BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Foreign banks are hunting for stakes in private Iraqi banks as the sector appears ripe for investment and consolidation but local banks are reluctant to take partners, fearing a loss of control, banking officials say.

Iraq’s financial sector is considered fertile ground for investment as the war-shattered nation rebuilds its vast oilfields and battered infrastructure eight years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.

But a poor credit culture, lack of a modern banking system and the dominance of state banks have slowed development.

Foreign institutions could take a stake in as many as six Iraqi banks in the next two years, while three others are set to merge, central bank and other officials said.

“We expect during the coming two years we will see increasing movement from foreign banks entering as shareholders of Iraqi banks,” said Waleed Eedi, head of the central bank’s statistics and research department.

France’s Societe Generale (SOGN.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and the Bank of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates have shown interest, one banking official said. They could join HSBC, Qatar National Bank and National Bank of Kuwait, who already operate in Iraq.

Iraq’s central bank began a three-stage programme in 2009 for banks to raise capital and modernize, opening the way for mergers and foreign bids.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Foreign banks are hunting for stakes in private Iraqi banks as the sector appears ripe for investment and consolidation but local banks are reluctant to take partners, fearing a loss of control, banking officials say.

Iraq’s financial sector is considered fertile ground for investment as the war-shattered nation rebuilds its vast oilfields and battered infrastructure eight years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled dictator Saddam Hussein.

But a poor credit culture, lack of a modern banking system and the dominance of state banks have slowed development.

Foreign institutions could take a stake in as many as six Iraqi banks in the next two years, while three others are set to merge, central bank and other officials said.

“We expect during the coming two years we will see increasing movement from foreign banks entering as shareholders of Iraqi banks,” said Waleed Eedi, head of the central bank’s statistics and research department.

France’s Societe Generale (SOGN.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and the Bank of Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates have shown interest, one banking official said. They could join HSBC, Qatar National Bank and National Bank of Kuwait, who already operate in Iraq.

Iraq’s central bank began a three-stage program in 2009 for banks to raise capital and modernize, opening the way for mergers and foreign bids.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Suicide attackers and car bombs struck cities across Iraq on Monday, killing at least 50 people and wounding scores more in a rash of apparently coordinated assaults carried out by affiliates of al Qaeda, authorities said.

In the worst attack, a roadside bomb followed by a car bomb targeting police killed at least 37 people in Kut, a mainly Shi’ite Muslim city 150 km (95 miles) southeast of the capital Baghdad, police and health officials said.

Dhiyauddin Jalil, a director of local provincial health department, said more than 68 people were wounded in the Kut blasts and doctors in the city’s main hospital said they were struggling to treat casualties, many with severe burns.

“These attacks… are trying to influence the security situation and undermine confidence in the security forces,” said Major General Qassim al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Baghdad security operations, blaming al Qaeda-linked groups.

Violence in Iraq has subsided dramatically since the height of sectarian slaughter in 2006-07. But militants are increasingly testing local security forces as the last American troops prepare to withdraw by an end-of-year deadline.

Kut had been relatively quiet since August last year when a suicide bomber killed 30 policemen and destroyed a police station as the U.S. military ended combat operations in Iraq.

Dozens more were killed or wounded on Monday in bombings and attacks in other cities, puncturing the relative calm of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – After almost two years of waiting to resettle in the United States following four years service as a U.S. army interpreter in Iraq, Mohammed is starting to believe he might have to rethink his plans.

He fears he could be left behind and militiamen will eventually catch up to him if U.S. troops withdraw by a scheduled deadline at year end before he is accepted into a program offering resettlement to Iraqis.

“I don’t have a Plan B and don’t know what to do,” Mohammed said, requesting that his full name not be used.

“If the Americans gonna leave Iraq and I stay here, man, the militias gonna kill us.” he said in a strong American accent.

Mohammed has already moved house twice in two years over security fears. He used to mask his face when he was out with the U.S. army on missions but he worries his identity will be disclosed after any planned U.S. withdrawal.

Like thousands of other Iraqis, he hopes to land a U.S. refugee visa to escape the violence that still makes his home a dangerous place even though the conflict has eased since the bloodier days four years ago.

Iraq and the United States are negotiating over whether some U.S. soldiers will stay as trainers when a security agreement ends this year and American troops are due to pullout more than eight years after the invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

BAGHDAD, July 6 (Reuters) – Iran aims to boost trade and investment with neighbouring Iraq to $10 billion this year as it looks to further strengthen economic ties, especially in the oil sector, an Iranian official said on Wednesday.

Relations between the two countries, which fought an eight-year war in the 1980s, have improved since the ousting of Saddam Hussein in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and after a Shi’ite-led government came to power in Iraq.

Shi’ite Iran is now Iraq’s second-biggest trading partner after Turkey.

“The big Iranian companies have the ability to engage in trading and investment in Iraq in oil, gas, petrochemicals, agriculture, heavy industries, electricity and religious tourism,” said Hassan Kazemi Qomi, head of the Iraq-Iran economic development committee and Iran’s former ambassador to Iraq.

“Trading between Iraq and Iran reached $6 billion last year… We’re looking to make it $10 billion this year and $20 billion in the coming five years,” he said.

Despite U.S. and U.N. sanctions on Iran due to its disputed nuclear programme, trade relations with Iraq have flourished.

Iran has invested in building power plants, schools, hotels and brick factories as part of Iraq’s reconstruction efforts. Iranian exports to Iraq include construction materials, petrochemicals, industrial and medical equipment and food .

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A car bomb and a roadside bomb blew up in a crowded parking lot outside a government building north of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 28 people and wounding dozens more, officials said.

The blasts struck a municipal office in the town of Taji, about 20 km (12 miles) north of the Iraqi capital, a day after a wave of attacks on police and soldiers that underscored Iraq’s fragile security as U.S. troops prepare to leave by year-end.

The explosions hit police, government workers and Iraqis lined up for national identity cards. Television footage showed bodies and body parts scattered across the open lot.

“I was standing in a line when suddenly a powerful blast shook the ground. I immediately covered my face as shrapnel and shattered glass flew around,” said witness Karrar Abid, who acts as a middleman for people applying for identity cards.

“I heard people screaming, ‘car bomb, car bomb, people killed’. I turned around to see four cars set ablaze, with smoke and dust filling the area … The second blast awakened me from the shock, to see people covered with blood screaming for help.”

Deputy Health Minister Khamis al-Saad said the bombs killed 28 people and wounded 58. An Interior Ministry source put the toll at 35 dead.

“It was a double explosion. The first was caused by a car bomb,” said Raad al-Tamimi, head of the Taji municipality. “The place was crowded with people who were going to process official papers and with police and employees.”

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A car bomb and another explosive device blew up in a crowded parking lot outside a government building north of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 27 people and wounding dozens more, officials said.

The blasts struck a municipal building in the town of Taji, about 20 km (12 miles) north of the Iraqi capital, a day after a wave of attacks on police and soldiers that underscored Iraq’s fragile security as U.S. troops prepare to leave by year-end.

Deputy Health Minister Khamis al-Saad said the Taji bombings killed 27 people and wounded 50. An interior ministry source put the initial toll at 35 dead and 28 wounded.

“It was a double explosion. The first was caused by a car bomb. We have no idea what the second was, whether a suicide bomber or a roadside bomb,” said Raad al-Tamimi, the head of the Taji municipality.

“The place was crowded with people who were going to process official papers and with police and employees,” he said.

More than eight years after the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraq is plagued by a stubborn insurgency that still launches attacks on a daily basis. U.S. military officials say Iraq sees an average of 14 attacks a day.

Militants have targeted Iraqi police and soldiers for months as a way of undermining confidence in their ability to provide security when U.S. forces withdraw by the end of December under a security agreement between the two countries.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A car bomb and another explosive device blew up in a crowded parking lot outside a government building north of Baghdad on Tuesday, killing at least 27 people and wounding dozens more, officials said.

The blasts struck a municipal building in the town of Taji, about 20 km (12 miles) north of the Iraqi capital, a day after a wave of attacks on police and soldiers that underscored Iraq’s fragile security as U.S. troops prepare to leave by year-end.

Deputy Health Minister Khamis al-Saad said the Taji bombings killed 27 people and wounded 50. An interior ministry source put the initial toll at 35 dead and 28 wounded.

“It was a double explosion. The first was caused by a car bomb. We have no idea what the second was, whether a suicide bomber or a roadside bomb,” said Raad al-Tamimi, the head of the Taji municipality.

“The place was crowded with people who were going to process official papers and with police and employees,” he said.

More than eight years after the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Sunni dictator Saddam Hussein, Iraq is plagued by a stubborn insurgency that still launches attacks on a daily basis. U.S. military officials say Iraq sees an average of 14 attacks a day.

Militants have targeted Iraqi police and soldiers for months as a way of undermining confidence in their ability to provide security when U.S. forces withdraw by the end of December under a security agreement between the two countries.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – Standing beside the dust- covered machines of his idle biscuit and sweet factory in eastern Baghdad, Fadhil al-Abboudi says Iraq’s small private manufacturers are feeling abandoned.

Despite government announcements of ambitious plans to expand Iraq’s oil sector, whose huge energy reserves invite comparisons with Iran’s, Iraqi entrepreneurs see no such support for moribund small and medium-sized private industries.

With their businesses shattered by years of chaos and war, lacking government support and unable to compete against a flood of cheap imports, thousands of Iraqi manufacturers have sold or mothballed their plants or converted them into storage sites.

Power and water shortages, security worries in a war-ravaged country where shootings and bombings remain daily occurrences and high customs tariffs all compound the dismal picture for the private Iraqi SMEs whose factories used to manufacture everything from food to fabrics, metal and plastics.

Abboudi’s dreams of re-equipping his factory are dead, and he despairs of restarting his business and reconquering a share of the Iraqi market now swamped with foreign imports.

“At one time, the foreign products couldn’t match ours in price. Now it’s the other way around,” Abboudi told Reuters.

All around eastern Baghdad, hundreds of similar small factories are also inactive. Many display ‘For Sale’ signs.

BAGHDAD, June 2 (Reuters) – Iraq’s prime minister on Thursday ordered a judicial investigation into one of the country’s biggest banks, the Trade Bank of Iraq, saying it was suspected of committing “violations”.

The bank’s president and chairman, Hussein Al-Uzri, could not be reached for comment.

A British adviser to the bank’s board, Sir Claude Hankes, condemned the move by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government as “political skulduggery”. He said the bank had resisted efforts by members of the government to try to make it undertake “improper banking transactions”.

Trade Bank of Iraq was set up in 2003 after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein. It has been involved in financing trade and investment aimed at supporting reconstruction in the war-ravaged OPEC oil producer.

Maliki visited the bank’s Baghdad headquarters on Thursday accompanied by security forces. A source close to the bank said there had been a “raid” on its offices.

The prime minister’s office issued a statement saying an official committee set up by Maliki, which had included representatives of the finance ministry and the central bank, had detected “violations” at the Trade Bank of Iraq.

“The report confirmed the existence of financial violations which could go as far as corruption,” Ali al-Moussawi, media adviser to the prime minister, told Reuters.