Capital requirements lifted
KRG, central bank, reach agreement on currency exchange companies
ERBIL — The Kurdistan Regional Government’s Ministry of Trade and Industry announced Tuesday an agreement with the Iraqi Central Bank that will simplify the registration process for Kurdish currency exchange companies, ensuring they receive the same treatment as Iraqi companies. A key aspect of the agreement is the elimination of the previous requirement for companies to have a 2.5 billion Iraqi dinar ($1.7 million) in capital to obtain work licenses.
Belbaid Mohammed Mawlud, the ministry’s director of company registration, met with Ali Al-Allaq, the governor of the Central Bank, on Monday. Also present at the meeting were Bakhtiar Hajj Mohammed, director general of the Kurdistan Regional Government Representation in Baghdad; Kazem Namik, general manager of the Central Bank’s Erbil branch; and the manager of the Non-Banking Financial Institutions Monitoring Department. They discussed the obstacles faced by currency exchange companies and agreed on several points of action.
Under the new agreement, currency exchange companies in the Kurdistan Region have until March 31 to merge and comply with all Central Bank requirements. After this deadline, they will not be eligible to obtain a license from the Central Bank for categories A and B.
Category A companies are authorized for larger transactions and having the potential to expand into banking or financial services. Category B companies, on the other hand, are limited to smaller transactions that render them currency exchange or money transfer forms. This classification aims to regulate the operational scope and transaction volume of these businesses.
Additionally, the previous capital requirement of 2.5 billion dinars for obtaining a license has been removed.
