Head of the Iraqi Islamic Association of Banks: Financial Inclusion reduce poverty rates



1512 2015
Iraqi Islamic banks tend to devote an important aspect of its activities for the promotion of Islamic banking products through financial inclusion prepared by the starting point for their work and to give impetus to individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises who prefer compliant with Sharia banking operations.

President of the Association of Banks Islamic Iraqi member of the World Union of Arab Bankers Dr. Sadeq al-Shammari spoke to «long» by saying that the growth of deposits in Islamic banks in Iraq and the size of their capital, which exceeded two billion dollars has helped to crystallize the idea of ​​a joint meeting of 10 Islamic banks devote to address the subject of financial inclusion in connection with the empowerment of individuals and communities to work and convert the potential into productive in various disciplines as well as its contribution to the reduction of poverty rates through its role in raising economic growth rates indicating that the difficult economic and social situation in Iraq now is encouraging and enabling environment to get all segments of society finance and financial services that are essential to promote it in the region through the Millennium Development Goals.

He attributed Shammari «the growing global interest in the topic of financial inclusion to several reasons in the forefront of not having large numbers of people in different countries, especially Asia and Africa bank accounts in formal financial institutions, and lower borrowing rate than formal financial institutions as well as banking illiteracy noting that« at the global level was Significant progress in expanding this concept has increased the number of people who have an account at a financial institution by about 700 million people between 2011 and 2014. In 2014 owned 62 percent of the world adult population of a bank account where this proportion rose from 51 percent in 2011 ».

Al-Shammari said that «On the other hand there are wide regional differences in terms of the ownership of the accounts owned 94 percent of adults in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) bank accounts in 2014, compared with 54 percent in the developing economies. To this day, the two billion people, or about 38 percent of adults in the world do not have access to formal financial services or do not deal with the banks because of the high costs and long distances and requirements very often cumbersome to open financial accounts. In addition, there is a wide gap in the ownership of bank accounts between males and females, where the gap was 7 percent globally and 9 percent in developing countries and is worth noting that women make up 55 percent of adults who Aataamilon with banks ».

Shammari pointed out «the importance of adopting the principles of corporate governance of any good governance in safeguarding the rights of all shareholders and raising the role of the stakeholders, and promote a culture of transparency and disclosure, and determine the proportions of the credits granted to banks for projects micro, small and medium», stressing that «innovation and diversification of advanced services and product development and financial services in the region in order to provide innovative services and related dedicated to all segments of society, regardless of gender, sex, low cost », noting that« the importance of the adoption of the products offered by Islamic banks to give a push for financial inclusion by allowing individuals and small and medium-sized enterprises who prefer dealing compliant financial operations with the law to deal with the banking system ».

He said Shammari the issuance of a law regulating the work of Islamic banks in Iraq recently a serious contribution to activate Islamic banking products with the need to create products that fit and law as well as the needs of the communities in which they are going to become this kind of banking services.

Shammari also noted that «the Arab Banking Conference which concluded in Beirut last week and attended by the Iraqi Islamic banks set aside time to discuss the development of the reality of Islamic banking and the role of financial inclusion in achieving economic feasibility has seen the participation of quality represented by more than 800 Arab and international leading figure financial and banking presence Ministers and governors of central banks of 24 countries. »

He added that «the recommendations of the conference focused on the inclusion of financial inclusion as an objective strategic new governments and regulators, and the integration of financial inclusion and financial stability and financial integrity and financial protection for the consumer to realize the Integrated Framework for inclusion and financial stability, as well as to urge the decision-makers on the importance of achieving harmony between strategies micro-enterprise development micro, small and medium enterprises, and to give financial education due importance to a large segment of Arab societies »He pointed out that« the interest in electronic systems and optimization of the great development in the financial services and innovative products and the development of infrastructure of the Arab financial system, and improve the credit system, and the protection of creditors' rights was one of the main recommendations that came out of the conference, where called for the creation of a favorable environment to get young people and women to financing, financial services and expand the scope of financial services to include a wider rural areas in Arab countries and provide innovative affordable, dedicated to poor categories of services which will be of Islamic banks in Iraq. »

© Al Dustour 2015

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