Along with JP Morgan, other members of the winning bank group are Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, Standard Chartered PLC, National Bank of Kuwait SAK, Bank Millennium SA, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi Ltd, San Paolo IMI SpA, Royal Bank of Canada, Credit Lyonnais, Caja de Ahorros y Pensiones de Barcelona, Standard Bank Group Ltd, Akbank TAS and Banco Comercial Portugues SA.
Other bidders
Wachovia Corp, Bank One Corp, Bank of America Corp and ABN Amro Bank NV also bidded for the contract.
At least one member of the group has recent experience with Iraqi banking. Credit Lyonnais, France's sixth-largest bank, maintained relations with Saddam Hussein's bankers after the 1991 Gulf War, partly in hopes of profiting if it became legal to do business in Iraq again, bank executives have said.
Iraq's biggest bank, state-owned Rafidain Bank, owns 3.23 percent of Union de Banques Arabes et Francaises, which is 44 percent owned by Credit Lyonnais and run by the Credit Lyonnais executives.
The US is trying to rehabilitate Iraq's economy and financial system, which have been devastated by three wars in as many decades and almost 13 years of UN economic sanctions that ended in May.
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