The Ledger

Al-Bilad Islamic Bank for Investment & Finance

This page sets out what the record shows about Al-Bilad Islamic Bank for Investment & Finance. It names the owners and managers, gives the dollars the bank bought from the Central Bank in the years whose records survive, lists the requests that the Central Bank refused and describes the action that regulators took against the bank.

مصرف البلاد الإسلامي للاستثمار والتمويل

$4.8bn

bought from the Central Bank from 2012 to 2020, in the records that survive. This is a minimum.

Tier A

$1.8bn

asked for but refused by the Central Bank's committee from January 2013 to February 2015

Tier A

$212.9m

the value of the gap between the official and the market price on the dollars it bought, which went to whoever received the dollars

Tier B

Name, licence and status

Name in English: Al-Bilad Islamic Bank for Investment & Finance
Name in Arabic: مصرف البلاد الإسلامي للاستثمار والتمويل
Other names: Al-Bilad Islamic Bank for Investment and Finance (مصرف البلاد الإسلامي)
Used until the bank was renamed Al-Ataa Islamic Bank. OFAC added the new name to its entry on 29 October 2020. The Central Bank's list reads "العطاء الاسلامي (البلاد سابقاً)".
OFAC Central Bank of Iraq
Type: Islamic bank
Iraq Stock Exchange ticker: BLAD
Established: 6 July 2006
Licence: No. 2389/3/9 of 16 October 2006
Legal status: Under sanctions
Regulatory measures: Barred from dollar dealing by the Central Bank (May 2018)
Website: www.bilad-bank.com
Securities Commission page: Iraq Securities Commissionisc.gov.iq

Ownership

OFAC (2018): owned or controlled by Aras Habib Kareem. The Iraq Securities Commission now lists Pierre Jirji Boutros Yousef 10% and a board chaired by Karim Mohammed Shanyour al-Shammari; ownership change after 2018 not documented.

Political or armed-group links reported by sources

OFAC: chairman/CEO Aras Habib enabled IRGC-QF movement of funds from Tehran to Hizballah
According to: OFAC 2018Tier AU.S. Department of the Treasury

Owners and managers

Being listed here records an ownership stake or a post at the bank. It is not an allegation. Next to each name is the exact legal status. Where the encyclopedia holds a record of the name, the status comes from that record. Otherwise it reads “Not charged as of the date of writing”.

Owners and managers
Name	Role	Share	As of	Legal status	Source
Aras Habib Kareem	Reported beneficial owner OFAC 15 May 2018	Not stated	Not stated	Under sanctions	U.S. Department of the Treasury Iraq Stock Exchange Iraq Securities CommissionCentral Bank of Iraq[1][2]
السيد كريم محمد شنيور الشمري	Chairman	Not stated	Not stated	Not charged as of the date of writing	U.S. Department of the Treasury Iraq Stock Exchange Iraq Securities CommissionCentral Bank of Iraq[1][2]
بيار جرجي بطرس يوسف	Shareholder	10%	Not stated	Not charged as of the date of writing	U.S. Department of the Treasury Iraq Stock Exchange Iraq Securities CommissionCentral Bank of Iraq[1][2]

Dollars bought from the Central Bank

Dollars bought from the Central Bank, by year

In billions of dollars. Verified rows of the Central Bank's daily records.

Source: Central Bank of Iraq, daily records of the dollar sale, compiled from the verified rowsTier A

Dollars bought from the Central Bank
Year	Dollars bought	Cash	Transfers abroad	Share of the year's named sales	Refused	Value of the price gap
2012	$2m	$0	$2m	0.7%	Not stated	$35,000
2013	$2.6bn	$99.8m	$2.5bn	5.5%	$1.3bn	$97.5m
2014	$368.2m	$46.2m	$322m	1.1%	$419.9m	$9.3m
2015	$346.3m	$12.3m	$334m	1.1%	$22.8m	$10.6m
2016	$1bn	$13.8m	$1bn	3.9%	Not stated	$71m
2017	$506.7m	$4.8m	$501.9m	2.5%	Not stated	$24.3m
2018	$4m	$0	$4m	2.5%	Not stated	$126,932
Total	$4.8bn	$176.9m	$4.6bn		$1.8bn	$212.9m

Source: Central Bank of Iraq, daily records of the dollar sale, compiled from the verified rowsTier A

Source: the price gap is our calculation from the Central Bank's price and the market priceTier B

Share of the year's named sales: the bank's part of all the dollars that the surviving records attribute to a named bank in that year.

Refused: the requests that the Central Bank's committee turned down. Its minutes survive only from January 2013 to February 2015. An empty cell means that no minutes survive for that year. The yearly figures come from the yearly ledger. The figure at the top of the page comes from the committee's minutes. The two can differ.

What the Central Bank refused

From January 2013 to February 2015 the Central Bank's committee recorded, day by day, which requests for dollars it turned down and why. Its minutes record 201 occasions on which the committee refused all or part of a request by this bank. On those occasions the bank asked for $3.5 billion, and $1.8 billion of it was refused.

The largest refusals

The largest refusals
Date	Asked for	Refused	The reason, as read from the scanned minutes	Category
19 November 2013	$29.8m	$29.8m	Not stated	Not stated or unreadable
date unreadable	$29.3m	$29.3m	يستبعد لوجود خطأ في التاريخ المثيت على استمارة الشراء	Other
28 December 2013	$29.1m	$29.1m	حدم الراج السم المدير المفرض في ققمة الشراء	Other
22 January 2014	$29.1m	$29.1m	لعدم كتابة اسم المدير المفوض على استمارة الشراه	Missing or defective documents; Penalty on, or suspension of, the bank
date unreadable	$28.3m	$28.3m	Not stated	Not stated or unreadable
17 November 2013	$28.1m	$28.1m	ال لية اليات المية قمرقة م 327d/ في 2013/1017	Other
date unreadable	$27.8m	$27.8m	1. لعدم كفاية رصيد المصرف الذي يبلغ ,!43638038) مليار دينار عراقي 2. بالنسبة للنقد يستبعد لتقديم الطلب في غير الموعد المحدد (punctuation adjusted)	Funds did not cover the request; Missing or defective documents
28 January 2014	$28.8m	$24.5m	207 410 /2 2791567113 رجب كتي العر	Other
18 November 2013	$23.7m	$23.7m	تقديم الصعاملة بمدة القل من اسبوح قول جلمة:	Other
29 October 2013	$23m	$23m	لعدم تقديم معلومات السويفت	Missing or defective documents
date unreadable	$28.2m	$21.6m	لم الجازة الإستواد مع المنف المراقن ضر	Other
8 January 2014	$29.7m	$21.5m	21,623,000 دزت2، الوهود متدريات مدرية ال(غرات	Other

The reasons were read from scanned pages of the Central Bank's minutes, the reading may contain errors, and the scanned page is the authority. Each reason is given in Arabic. Where a reason is marked “punctuation adjusted”, only its punctuation was changed. The category is ours.

Source: Central Bank of Iraq, daily minutes of the committee that ran the dollar sale, from January 2013 to February 2015Tier A

All the refusals, day by day

Enforcement actions

15 May 2018OFAC (US Treasury)
Placed on the US sanctions list as a supporter of terrorism
Against: Al-Bilad Islamic Bank for Investment and Finance P.S.C.; its Chairman and Chief Executive Aras Habib Kareem
Treasury: Aras Habib "enabled the IRGC-QF’s exploitation of Iraq’s banking sector to move funds from Tehran to Hizballah"; bank designated as owned or controlled by him.
Current position: Still designated (bank and Aras Habib on OFAC's sanctions list on 25 September 2026); OFAC added Al-Ataa Islamic Bank aliases on 29 October 2020
Original
16 May 2018Central Bank of Iraq
Barred from the currency window and from dealing in dollars
Against: Al-Ataa Islamic Bank (formerly Al-Bilad) for Investment & Finance
The Central Bank's list gives the effective date as 16 May 2018, the day after OFAC's designation.
Current position: Listed as of 4 February 2024
Original
29 October 2020OFAC (US Treasury)
Entry on the US sanctions list updated (other names added)
Against: Al-Bilad Islamic Bank, aliases Al-Ataa / Al-Atta Islamic Bank added
OFAC treats the renamed Al-Ataa Islamic Bank as the same designated entity.
Current position: Still on OFAC's sanctions list
Original

Sources

The documents behind this page, with the words quoted from each.

U.S. Department of the Treasury15 May 2018Tier A
Treasury Targets Iran’s Central Bank Governor and an Iraqi Bank Moving Millions of Dollars for IRGC-Qods Force
OFAC is designating Aras Habib, the Chairman and Chief Executive of Al-Bilad Islamic Bank, for assisting, sponsoring, or providing financial, material, or technological support for, or financial or other services to or in support of, the IRGC-QF. ... Al-Bilad Islamic Bank is being designated for being owned or controlled by Aras Habib.
Original
Iraq Stock ExchangeAccessed 25 September 2026Tier B
ISX company profiles (companyprofile.html) for 49 listed banks: establishing date, listing date, capital, managing director
e.g. BHAM مصرف حمورابي: تاريخ التأسيس 26/08/2020؛ تاريخ الإدراج 04/08/2024 | BTRI مصرف عبر العراق للاستثمار: تاريخ التأسيس 21/05/2006 | BLAD مصرف العطاء الاسلامي: تاريخ التأسيس 06/07/2006 | BBAY مصرف بابل: المدير المفوض احمد عباس احمد / الوصي
Iraq Securities CommissionAccessed 25 September 2026 (the page does not show the dates of disclosure)Tier B
Iraq Securities Commission (هيأة الأوراق المالية) listed-company pages: 'النسب المؤثرة' (significant shareholdings) and 'أعضاء مجلس الإدارة' (board) for banks
مصرف الاتحاد العراقي ... النسب المؤثرة: 1 عقيل مفتن خفيف البيضاني 13% ... 3 محمد مفتن خفيف البيضاني 13% | أعضاء مجلس الإدارة: عبد الكريم ابراهيم علي رئيس مجلس الادارة ...
Translation: Union Bank of Iraq ... Significant holdings: Aqeel Meften Khafeef al-Baidhani 13%; Mohammed Meften Khafeef al-Baidhani 13% | Board: Abdul Kareem Ibrahim Ali, chairman ...
Central Bank of IraqAccessed 25 September 2026Tier B
المصارف الاهلية المحلية (Private local banks: licence numbers/dates, managers, status marks)
الأقليم التجاري للاستثمار والتمويل ( اميرالد سابقا ) ... 408/3/9 2007/3/1 | الهدى ( ممنوع من التعامل بالدولار ) ... 136/3/9 2008/1/14 | مصرف بابل ( تصفية ) ( ممنوع من التعامل بالدولار ) ... المصفي، د.أحمد عباس أحمد | دار السلام للأستثمار ( حراسة قضائية ) | الشمال للتمويل والاستثمار ( وصاية ) | الطيف الإسلامي للإستثمار… Read the rest
والتمويل ( وصاية )( ممنوع من التعامل بالدولار ) | المال الإسلامي للإستثمار ( ممنوع من التعامل بالدولار ) ... 845/3/9 في 2018/12/9
(punctuation adjusted)
Translation: Region Trade Bank for Investment & Finance (formerly Emerald) ... licence 408/3/9 of 1 Mar 2007 | Al-Huda (barred from USD dealing) ... licence 136/3/9 of 14 Jan 2008 | Babylon Bank (liquidation) (barred from USD) ... liquidator Dr Ahmed Abbas Ahmed | Dar Es Salaam (judicial receivership) | North Bank (guardianship) | Al-Taif Islamic (guardianship)(barred from USD) | Al-Mal Islamic (barred from USD) ... licence 845/3/9 of 9 Dec 2018
Original
Central Bank of Iraq23 October 2025Tier A
النشرة الإحصائية السنوية / Annual Statistical Bulletin (2024 data; PDF created 23 Oct 2025), banks' establishment year, total assets, paid-up capital (pages 116 to 117) and ISX listing table (p.113)
Region Trade Bank for Investment 2007 1,051,981 300,000 مصرف الاقليم التجاري( اميرالد) | AL-Huda Bank 2008 412,604 250,000 | Erbil Bank 2010 | International Development Bank 2011 | Hammurabi Commercial Bank 2020 | Ur Islamic Bank 2018 334,815 250,000
Original
OFAC29 October 2020Tier A
Recent Actions 20201029 (Counter Terrorism Designations Updates), Al-Bilad Islamic Bank entry amended
AL-BILAD ISLAMIC BANK FOR INVESTMENT AND FINANCE P.S.C. (a.k.a. AL BILAD ISLAMIC BANK) ... to AL-BILAD ISLAMIC BANK FOR INVESTMENT AND FINANCE P.S.C. (a.k.a. AL ATAA ISLAMIC BANK FOR INVESTMENT AND FINANCE; a.k.a. AL ATTA ISLAMIC BANK FOR INVESTMENT AND FINANCE; a.k.a. AL BILAD ISLAMIC BANK; a.k.a. AL-ATAA ISLAMIC BANK; ...) (punctuation adjusted)
Original
Central Bank of Iraq4 February 2024Tier A
قائمة المحرومين من التعامل بعملة الدولار الأمريكي (List of institutions deprived of dealing in US dollars), version dated 4 February 2024
تضم هذه القائمة أسماء المصارف [و]المؤسسات المالية غير المصرفية المحرومة من الاشتراك في نافذة بيع وشراء العملة الأجنبية ومن التعامل بعملة الدولار الأمريكي بصورة مباشرة او غير مباشرة ... مصرف العطاء الاسلامي (البلاد سابقاً) ... BIQ034/2 ... 16 5 2018 | مصرف التعاون الاسلامي للاستثمار BIQ036/2 8 1 2016 | بنك ملي ايران… Read the rest
BIQ037/2 8 1 2016 | مصرف نور العراق الاسلامي للاستثمار والتمويل BIQ064/2 30 10 2019 | بنك بارسيان BIQ052/2 8 1 2016 | مصرف بابل BIQ019/2 24 12 2020 | مصرف القابض الإسلامي ... 3 11 2022 | اسيا العراق الاسلامي ... 3 11 2022 | مصرف الانصاري الإسلامي ... 3 11 2022 | مصرف الشرق الاوسط العراقي للاستثمار ... 3 11 2022 | [14 banks] ... 20 7 2023 | مصرف الاستثمار العراقي ... الاتحاد العراقي ... مصرف كوردستان الدولي الاسلامي ... مصرف اشور الدولي ... مصرف الهدى ... مصرف الجنوب الإسلامي ... مصرف العربية الاسلامي ... حمورابي التجاري ... 29 1 2024
Translation: This list contains the names of banks and non-bank financial institutions deprived of participating in the foreign-currency sale-and-purchase window and of dealing in US dollars directly or indirectly. [Each row gives the effective day/month/year.]
Original