HSBC, Canadian bank apply for license in Iraq

British-based global banking giant HSBC and a Canadian bank are in the process of applying for permission to operate in Iraq, Arab bankers said on Thursday.

Iraq's central bank is receiving requests for applications for six licences. HSBC and a Canadian bank have requested applications, bankers who met with the two banks added.

An HSBC delegation was visiting Iraqi banks on Thursday as a bomb attack on HSBC buildings and the British Consulate in Istanbul killed at least 26 people.

"We are investigating whether it's possible for us to play a role in the financial reconstruction of Iraq," an HSBC spokesman said. He declined to comment further.

The world's second-largest bank by market value has aggressively expanded its global network in recent years. HSBC already has operations in 12 Middle East countries, including United Arab Emirates and its 40 percent stake in Saudi British Bank.

Five of Canada's six big banks denied they had sought an application to operate in Iraq. Only Toronto-Dominion Bank declined comment, although banking sources said they doubted it is involved.

Denying involvement were Bank of Montreal, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Bank of Nova Scotia, and National Bank of Canada.

Royal Bank of Canada, the country's largest bank, said it was not applying to operate in Iraq, but is part of a consortium led by US bank JP Morgan Chase & Co that will manage the Trade Bank of Iraq.

The Trade Bank of Iraq, which begins operations next week, is a first step in facilitating trade for the battered country.

"The criteria set by the United States favor international banks as far as capital and a commitment to expansion. Regional banks are less well positioned to win a licence, except for Jordan's Arab Bank and the National Bank of Kuwait. But I do not know if they applied," a regional banker said.

"I do not think Lebanese banks will qualify to apply," the bankers added, referring to Lebanese and Jordanian banks that acted as Iraq's banking outlet since the UN imposed sanctions on the country in 1990.

Subsidiaries of foreign banks in Iraq must have a minimum capital of US$25 million under new regulations that allow them in for the first time since nationalization in the 1960s.

The deadline for requests for licence applications have been extended one week to Dec. 4, according to an Iraqi central bank announcement.

Baghdad bankers said lack of security in Iraq already threatens their operations and foreign banks could come under threat.

"We are already struggling to transport money and protect branches. Communications is also difficult," said Qais al-Soueidi, general manager of United Investment Bank.

Iraqi private banks say an aggressive US laissez-faire policy not even applied in the US, which includes allowing foreign banks to enter Iraq without restrictions, ignored 13 years of UN sanctions that isolated Iraqi banking and left it behind the rest of the world. Foreign banks should have been forced to enter the Iraqi market through joint ventures with local ones, they say.