Amwal, an Iraqi-owned banking consortium, has reaffirmed its successful relationship with MasterCard in a collaboration that supports the development of the Iraq payments landscape.

Amwal continues to make significant strides in establishing the payments landscape in Iraq in line with integrating Iraq’s financial and banking sectors with the rest of the world.

Amwal began operating at the beginning of 2009 with the aim of setting up switching capabilities as well as ATMs and POS terminals at merchant locations across Iraq. To date, Iraq consumers have seen the introduction of three MasterCard credit and debit card programs from Bank of Baghdad, Commercial Bank of Iraq and Ashur Bank. The consortium to date comprises thirteen Iraqi banks and its membership is open to any institution that meets the established operational and regulatory requirements in Iraq.
 
“This transformation of the Iraq payments market from cash to electronic payments is our main goal,” said Atheer Al Qadhi, Executive Director of Amwal.

“We believe that building our strategic collaboration with MasterCard will allow us to continue to advance the payments market in Iraq.”

“Such developments in the payments landscape are critical for merchants and consumers, who are now able to benefit from a secure and efficient payments system,” added Basel Eltell, vice president and regional manager, Levant, MasterCard Worldwide.-TradeArabia News Service