Iraq's Corruption
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Al-Mashreq Al-Arabi Islamic Bank

This page sets out what the record shows about Al-Mashreq Al-Arabi Islamic Bank. 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 المشرق العربي الإسلامي

$4.3m
bought from the Central Bank from 2012 to 2020, in the records that survive. This is a minimum.
Tier A
$25,400
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-Mashreq Al-Arabi Islamic Bank
Name in Arabic
مصرف المشرق العربي الإسلامي
Type
Islamic bank
Iraq Stock Exchange ticker
BAMS
Established
13 October 2017
Licence
No. 8263/3/9 of 9 April 2018
Regulatory measures
Reported barred from dollar dealing (February 2025); the Central Bank denied it and no document confirms it; named in July 2026 among banks allowed back into non-dollar business (reported)
Website
www.amb.iq
Securities Commission page
Iraq Securities Commissionisc.gov.iq

Ownership

The Iraq Securities Commission page names one significant individual holder: صادق كاظم باقر المشاط with 10%. The page was read on 25 September 2026.

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
NameRoleShareAs ofLegal statusSource
صادق كاظم باقر المشاط
Chairman
Shareholder
10%
Not statedNot charged as of the date of writingIraq Stock ExchangeIraq Securities CommissionCentral Bank of Iraq[1][2]

Dollars bought from the Central Bank

Dollars bought from the Central Bank, by year

In millions 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
YearDollars boughtCashTransfers abroadShare of the year's named salesRefusedValue of the price gap
2019$4.3m$360,000$3.9m0.0%Not stated$25,400
Total$4.3m$360,000$3.9mNot stated$25,400
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

The committee's surviving minutes, from January 2013 to February 2015, record no refusal for this bank.

Enforcement actions

  1. 16 February 2025Central Bank of Iraq (reported by Reuters; the Central Bank denied)
    Reported ban on dollar transactions

    Against: Al-Mashreq Al-Arabi Islamic Bank; United Bank for Investment; Al-Sanam (Sinam) Islamic Bank; Misk Islamic Bank; Ameen (Amin) Iraq Islamic Bank; and the payment firms Amwal, Al-Saqi Payment, Aqsa Payment

    Reuters (two sources) reported the ban; the Central Bank denied that US sanctions had been imposed (The New Arab, 17 February 2025). Status of implementation not confirmed by a primary document; Al-Mashreq Al-Arabi was later named (July 2026) among restricted banks cleared to return to non-dollar channels. The Wall Street Journal (31 May 2025) later reported that the US Treasury 'blacklisted' three Iraqi card issuers suspected of militia ties, including Al Saqi Electronic Payment Company, without naming a legal instrument; OFAC's list does not name these companies as of the date of writing.

    Current position: Reported and disputed. The record holds no Central Bank list that confirms it.

    Original
  2. 18 July 2026Central Bank of Iraq / US Treasury (understanding)
    Partial return: restricted banks allowed back into correspondent banking in currencies other than the dollar

    Against: Seven restricted banks (named by an anonymous Central Bank source): Al-Janoob Islamic; International Development Bank; Mosul Bank; Al-Mashreq Al-Arabi Islamic; Investment Bank of Iraq; Kurdistan International (Islamic) Bank; Al-Arabiya Islamic

    The Central Bank's statement confirms the understanding but does not name banks; names come from Asharq Bloomberg's anonymous Central Bank source. Access to dollars not yet restored as of the statement.

    Current position: Pending eligibility for dollars

    Original

Sources

The documents behind this page, with the words quoted from each.
  1. 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
  2. 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 ...

  3. 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
  4. 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