Al-Taif depositors protest a month without access to their money

BAGHDAD — Depositors at al-Taif Islamic Bank protested outside its main branch in Karrada on Sunday, saying they have been unable to withdraw money or use their accounts, cards or the bank’s app for about a month.

Mohammed Ali, representing affected depositors, said he had put 200 million dinars, about $131,000 at the street rate, into a current account after selling his house, as part of moving to electronic banking. His account and card later stopped working. Nihaya Naji said she had banked there for about a year and deposited 17 million dinars, roughly $11,000, for safekeeping, and does not know what will happen to it. Depositors and employees paid through al-Taif also protested at its Tanuma branch in Basra after their cards stopped working, saying they had been given no answer on when services would resume.

The Central Bank said on Saturday that placing the bank under supervisory committees and trusteeship is a precautionary regulatory measure to protect depositors and does not mean it is bankrupt, and that funds are fully protected under the law. It has not said what prompted the decision.

Economist Nabil al-Marsoumi said the trusteeship of one of Iraq’s largest private banks is deepening public mistrust of the banking system, and linked that to the amount of currency held outside it: 99.78 trillion dinars, more than 91% of the 109 trillion issued as of the end of June. The head of the Trade Bank of Iraq put the figure above 85% last week.