FinTech revolutionizes small business landscape of Iraq
Dinar Daily :: DINAR/IRAQ -- NEWS -- GURUS and DISCUSSIONS :: IRAQ and DINAR -- ARTICLE BASED INFORMATION and DISCUSSIONS
Page 1 of 1
FinTech revolutionizes small business landscape of Iraq
[size=36]FinTech revolutionizes small business landscape of Iraq[/size]
24 July 202024 July 2020

The digital age has unified the Iraqi people, having reached into nearly every town and village throughout the country and contributed to building Iraq’s digital economy.
Susan Hufton explains that according to Internet World Stats (IWS), almost 50 percent of the Iraqi population accesses the internet, and Statisa.com reports nearly 95 percent mobile phone penetration. Between these two channels, Iraqi citizens are now accessing valuable information and services. The availability and access to networking technologies like the internet and mobile phones, has laid the foundation for a digital economy and opened the doors toward financial inclusion.
Iraq’s homegrown fintech Qi Card, plugged into the surging mobile and internet networks to help drive financial inclusion for the country’s 38 million citizens, and one of the Middle East’s most underbanked countries. This started with the introduction of integrative technologies such as biometric identification and an electronic payment system ecosystem.
ISC’s partnership with state banks Al-Rafidain and Al-Rashed is the most successful public/private partnership in the history of Iraq, and its value toward making banking services readily available to the unbanked/underbanked population is readily demonstrated.
Qi Card circulated throughout the population as a way to link citizens to the state-based financial system. Safety, convenience, and efficiency were critical benefits for working, retired, and displaced Iraqis. Digital payments assure that state-funded payments are expedited for quick disbursement of funds to citizens across the country.
The system reduced the frequency of transporting large amounts of cash currency through dangerous roads. Beneficiaries no longer need to wait in line outside the bank for hours on designated days waiting to receive money.
The biometric identification ensured that money reached the intended person. New security parameters dramatically reduced the system of fraudulent beneficiaries and organized crime syndicates defrauding the country’s financial system, two areas that the Iraqi government had long struggled to contain.
A large part of the Qi Card ecosystem was intended to fuel the surgency of an Iraqi middle class. This meant implementing a small loan system creating opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs. Iraqi banks did not traditionally serve small loans.
A person who needed to pay a hospital bill or wanted to open a small restaurant, bakery, or tailoring store could not access funds based on their creditworthiness. This simply was not a traditional practice of the past.
This changed with the ISC-driven digital economy landscape. The loan program allowed citizens to have instant access to credit, entrepreneurs to innovate and build new business amenities to serve their communities while offering financially responsible solutions.
This reduces the risky practice of borrowing money from a loan shark and can safely strengthen a working, middle-class system through entrepreneurship. Replacing out of date processes with a new digital economy strengthens the financial ecosystem of Iraq and creates a system of accountability, progress, and security.
If Iraq’s new digital economy, built on technological advancements, continues to foster a system of financial inclusion, then perhaps, finally, the term “underserved” will no longer define Iraqi consumers and businesses.
https://www.bmmagazine.co.uk/business/fintech-revolutionizes-small-business-landscape-of-iraq/
24 July 202024 July 2020

Surging Digital Economy Ecosystem Boosts Middle Class
The digital age has unified the Iraqi people, having reached into nearly every town and village throughout the country and contributed to building Iraq’s digital economy.
Susan Hufton explains that according to Internet World Stats (IWS), almost 50 percent of the Iraqi population accesses the internet, and Statisa.com reports nearly 95 percent mobile phone penetration. Between these two channels, Iraqi citizens are now accessing valuable information and services. The availability and access to networking technologies like the internet and mobile phones, has laid the foundation for a digital economy and opened the doors toward financial inclusion.
Iraq’s homegrown fintech Qi Card, plugged into the surging mobile and internet networks to help drive financial inclusion for the country’s 38 million citizens, and one of the Middle East’s most underbanked countries. This started with the introduction of integrative technologies such as biometric identification and an electronic payment system ecosystem.
ISC’s partnership with state banks Al-Rafidain and Al-Rashed is the most successful public/private partnership in the history of Iraq, and its value toward making banking services readily available to the unbanked/underbanked population is readily demonstrated.
Qi Card circulated throughout the population as a way to link citizens to the state-based financial system. Safety, convenience, and efficiency were critical benefits for working, retired, and displaced Iraqis. Digital payments assure that state-funded payments are expedited for quick disbursement of funds to citizens across the country.
The system reduced the frequency of transporting large amounts of cash currency through dangerous roads. Beneficiaries no longer need to wait in line outside the bank for hours on designated days waiting to receive money.
The biometric identification ensured that money reached the intended person. New security parameters dramatically reduced the system of fraudulent beneficiaries and organized crime syndicates defrauding the country’s financial system, two areas that the Iraqi government had long struggled to contain.
A large part of the Qi Card ecosystem was intended to fuel the surgency of an Iraqi middle class. This meant implementing a small loan system creating opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs. Iraqi banks did not traditionally serve small loans.
A person who needed to pay a hospital bill or wanted to open a small restaurant, bakery, or tailoring store could not access funds based on their creditworthiness. This simply was not a traditional practice of the past.
This changed with the ISC-driven digital economy landscape. The loan program allowed citizens to have instant access to credit, entrepreneurs to innovate and build new business amenities to serve their communities while offering financially responsible solutions.
This reduces the risky practice of borrowing money from a loan shark and can safely strengthen a working, middle-class system through entrepreneurship. Replacing out of date processes with a new digital economy strengthens the financial ecosystem of Iraq and creates a system of accountability, progress, and security.
If Iraq’s new digital economy, built on technological advancements, continues to foster a system of financial inclusion, then perhaps, finally, the term “underserved” will no longer define Iraqi consumers and businesses.
https://www.bmmagazine.co.uk/business/fintech-revolutionizes-small-business-landscape-of-iraq/
claud39- VIP NewsHound
- Posts : 18367
Join date : 2018-11-04

» Moneylenders are taking advantage of small business owners looking to expand their enterprises in Iraq, where support from banks is almost nonexistent.
» In the World Bank report on Iraq and its outlook for the coming years
» Iraqi company and Lebanese fintech launch the first digital-only payment card ‘Neo’ in Iraq
» Why the US Economy is No Place for Small Business Growth
» Iraq Business Forum The Central Hall Westminster, Storey’s Gate, SW1H 9N Iraq Business Forum, 13 November 2019
» In the World Bank report on Iraq and its outlook for the coming years
» Iraqi company and Lebanese fintech launch the first digital-only payment card ‘Neo’ in Iraq
» Why the US Economy is No Place for Small Business Growth
» Iraq Business Forum The Central Hall Westminster, Storey’s Gate, SW1H 9N Iraq Business Forum, 13 November 2019
Dinar Daily :: DINAR/IRAQ -- NEWS -- GURUS and DISCUSSIONS :: IRAQ and DINAR -- ARTICLE BASED INFORMATION and DISCUSSIONS
Page 1 of 1
Permissions in this forum:
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
» Parliamentary Finance: Write a paragraph to cancel payroll deductions in the budget
» WHY IS ANYONE SPEAKING ABOUT THE MASTER'S TRUST WHEN IT IS A SCAM!?!?!?!
» CBI sold +1.3$ billion in forex last week
» Iraq paralysed by government stand-off as Moqtada al-Sadr unleashes protest
» Introducing myself...
» Nearly two years after launching the White Paper, what are the achievements?
» CHAT
» USD/IQD rate closes slightly lower in Baghdad
» CBI sells +240$ million in forex on Sunday
» Iraq without a budget for 2022
» Al-Nusairi: The Central Bank’s initiatives to revitalize the economy amounted to 18 trillion dinars and achieved their goals
» A new talk from Al-Kazemi's advisor regarding the budget
» The assets of the International Development Bank rise to 1.5 trillion dinars
» CBI sells +260$ million in forex on Sunday
» New member
» USD/IQD exchange rates inch up in Baghdad on Saturday
» The Central Bank: We supported the economic sector with 18 trillion dinars
» The Central Bank sets the goal of its call to establish a sovereign fund
» Al-Maliki's leaks: a political boom looms over the Iraqi arena
» The Central Bank of Kuwait allows applications to establish digital banks
» Including Iraq ... the price of bitcoin in Arab currencies
» Fitch announces the credit rating of Iraqi Islamic banks
» Adelaide, South Australia Redemption?
» Countdown to US implosion begins after failure of Biden Mid-East trip
» What distractions are in "The Dinar RV"...How many wild goose chases did you fall for?
» After slashing four zeros, Iran releases new banknotes
» Presidential elections: no PUK-KDP agreement yet
» Al-Maliki: PMF members are "a whole nation of Jihadists"
» MP warns of strife following al-Maliki's leaked recordings
» USD/IQD closes slightly higher in Baghdad
» Iraq proposes the establishment of the Middle East Bank for Development and Integration
» Al-Kazemi: World Bank indicators confirm that Iraq has passed the economic crisis in a very short time
» Some of them are negative.. 4 effects of the decline of the euro on the Iraqi economy
» The Central Bank calls for the establishment of a sovereign fund to benefit from the financial abundance
» Our economy and stagflation in the global economy
» Experts: Turkey is preparing to cut 56 percent of the Tigris supply by building the Jazra Dam
» Al-Nusairi: Sustainable development in Iraq is achieved by strategic economic agreements with brotherly and friendly countries
» Euro reaches parity with dollar for the first time in 20 years
» Forex-US dollar notches in Baghdad