KRG warns employees to complete bank registration as salaries set to go fully digital

ERBIL — The Kurdistan Regional Government will move to fully digital salary payments next month under its “My Account” program, with the Ministry of Finance and Economy warning that employees who fail to complete registration will not receive their wages.

In a notification to all ministries and affiliated entities, the ministry said that effective Jan. 20, “salary distribution will be carried out exclusively in digital form and within the framework of the ‘My Account’ project.”

The decision applies to public employees across Erbil, Sulaymaniyah and Duhok.

“All salary recipients who have not yet completed the registration form for the ‘My Account’ project must promptly begin the registration process,” the ministry said. “After the above-mentioned date, they will not be able to receive their salaries if they fail to do so.”

Those who have registered but not collected their bank cards must visit the banks specified in their confirmation message. “Otherwise, after the above-mentioned date, they will not be able to receive their salaries,” the ministry said.

The ministry said 50,750 public employees have not yet registered or collected their cards and are currently receiving salaries in cash. If they do not complete the required steps, “their salaries will be suspended as of the specified date.”

The My Account initiative was launched in September 2023 as part of a KRG program to modernize banking services. Prime Minister Masrour Barzani announced it as a government initiative to bank public sector salaries.

More than 900,000 salary recipients have registered so far. Of those, more than 680,000 civil servants, retirees, Peshmerga, Asayish personnel and families of martyrs receive their monthly salaries digitally.

By governorate, 336,228 beneficiaries receive digital salaries in Erbil, 172,119 in Sulaymaniyah and 171,784 in Duhok.

Nearly 550 ATMs have been installed across the Kurdistan Region, allowing beneficiaries to withdraw funds around the clock.