Employees and retirees complain about the mechanism for granting loans from Al-Rafidain Bank and demand disclosure of the application criteria.
On Thursday, a number of employees and retirees expressed their dissatisfaction with the mechanism for granting financial loans through the electronic application approved by Al-Rafidain Bank, noting that the application witnesses a great surge as soon as the application is opened, before it stops receiving applications within five minutes or less, which limits the beneficiaries’ chances of completing the application procedures and obtaining the loan. ReadDaily News
Employees and retirees told Shafaq News Agency that the short application period and the limited number of applications that the application can accommodate raise questions about the criteria for providing loans and the mechanism for selecting beneficiaries.
They called for the adoption of clearer and fairer procedures that would ensure equal opportunities for employees and retirees.
In a related context, informed sources revealed suspicions regarding the exploitation by some parties outside the bank of citizens’ need for loans, by facilitating access to them in exchange for sums of money, as well as allegations of understandings between some bank employees and external parties to achieve financial benefits.
These claims still need to be verified by the relevant regulatory authorities.
The sources raised questions about the nature of the relationship between Rafidain Bank and those entities, particularly regarding the distribution of roles and responsibilities in receiving applications, the extent of the bank’s supervision of the application procedures and granting of loans, as well as the fees and commissions resulting from the related financial transactions.
She demanded clarification of the entity responsible for managing the application process and identifying beneficiaries, and an announcement of the criteria adopted in choosing between them, stressing the need to subject all procedures to auditing and oversight to prevent any illegal practices or exploitation of citizens’ need for loans.
Regarding the announced numbers of loans, the sources raised questions about the statements circulating about the possibility of granting about 100,000 loans, demanding clarification of the size of the available financial allocations and their funding sources, the timetable for distribution, and the entity responsible for auditing applications and following up on their implementation.
She stressed the importance of addressing the technical problems facing the application and expanding its capacity to accommodate requests, in order to ensure that no applicant is given an advantage over others, in addition to publishing details of fees and commissions, the mechanism for calculating them, and the entities benefiting from them.
An informed source told Shafaq News Agency on October 23 that Rafidain Bank had launched loans for employees and retirees in amounts of 5 million and 10 million dinars, with an annual interest rate of 6%, to be repaid over five years.
The source explained that applications for loans are available electronically through the “Super Key” application, as part of the move towards enhancing digital banking services and simplifying procedures for employees and retirees, enabling them to submit their applications without needing to visit bank branches.
Shafaq.com