Credit, debit cards issued for first time by Iraqi bank

Tuesday, May 24, 2005 | 9:19 a.m.

The Trade Bank of Iraq today issued the country's first credit and debit cards, from Visa International Inc., at a ceremony in Baghdad, the bank said.

Visa cards were given to cabinet ministers, government officials and financial professionals, the bank said in a statement. Bank Chairman Hussein al-Uzri presented the first card to Adel Abdel Mahdi, one of two vice presidents and a former finance minister, according to the statement.

The TBI said it will issue 30,000 Visa cards in Iraq by the end of the year and plans to install the country's first network of automated teller machines.

, which will enable cardholders to withdraw Iraqi dinars or U.S. dollars from their accounts.

The TBI is a state-owned bank founded in 2003 to facilitate Iraq's international trade. It is capitalized at $100 million and has issued 1,537 letters of credit worth $5.7 billion since its establishment, according to the statement.