Citigroup is set to become the first U.S. credit institution to open its headquarters office in Baghdad, Dow Jones Newswires said.
The new office will open right after getting approval from local regulators. The Iraqi central bank has already endorsed the Citigroup’s initiative.
Branch openings are also planned in Erbil and Basra, in the north and south of the country, respectively. Previously Citi provided its services to Iraqi customers through its office in Amman, Jordan.
The Citigroup’s strive to branch out into Iraq proceeds from the economic prospects of this oil-rich country recovering after several wars and the period of sanctions.
The bank’s economists say that the country’s GDP is seen to increase to $2 trillion by 2050 with only 50 million citizens. To compare, Russia, the world’s largest country has $2 trillion GDP with 140 million people.
Dennis Flannery will head the Iraqi office. He served as the attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad prior to joining Citi.
So far, there are several foreign credit institutions in Iraq. In particular, they are UAE’s, Lebanese and Turkish banks.
In the near future British Standard Chartered and U.S. JP Morgan plan to open their branches in this Arab country as well.
