Al Zaidi courts US banks in New York targeting 10M bpd oil capacity

Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – Under the auspices and in the presence of Prime Minister Ali Faleh Al-Zaidi, the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Iraq to the United Nations in New York hosted a high-level roundtable meeting bringing together representatives from premier American commercial banks and financial institutions, Iraqi banking delegates, senior government officials, and economic analysts. Held late Thursday evening Baghdad time on September 24, 2026, the diplomatic engagement was convened to re-establish institutional communication between Iraq’s financial sector and the international banking architecture, with a particular focus on direct correspondent relationships with major U.S. lenders. In his address to the executive gathering, Prime Minister Al-Zaidi stressed that Iraq has embarked on an irreversible trajectory of structural economic transformation and banking sector modernization. He acknowledged that past vulnerabilities within Iraq’s domestic banking ecosystem were partly rooted in institutional isolation and restricted interaction with global financial hubs, particularly American banking conglomerates. Al-Zaidi extended an open invitation to U.S. financial institutions to establish direct operational footprints in the Iraqi market, emphasizing that their market entry would represent a qualitative leap toward elevating local banking practices, adopting international compliance standards, and deepening Iraq’s integration into global capital networks. Highlighting Iraq’s macroeconomic foundations, the Prime Minister noted that the country currently produces approximately 4.5 million barrels of crude oil per day, with federal energy policies actively targeting an expansion toward 10 million barrels per day over the long term. This hydrocarbon expansion strategy is designed to maximize sovereign revenues and channel critical liquidity into national development, industrial manufacturing, and cross-sector economic diversification. Al-Zaidi assured participants that the government is actively engineering an investor-friendly environment with streamlined regulatory, customs, and fiscal frameworks, underscoring that American banks hold vast opportunities to structure project financing, issue commercial credit, and underwrite major capital ventures across energy, logistics, and real estate. Detailing administrative reforms underway, Al-Zaidi outlined the government’s clear operational blueprint for comprehensive institutional restructuring across state-owned commercial banks. The initiative aims to enforce corporate governance benchmarks, upgrade anti-money laundering and know-your-customer compliance mechanisms, and build an agile banking framework capable of supporting modern commercial activities. The Prime Minister affirmed that statutory anti-corruption proceedings, asset recovery drives, and fiscal protection measures are advancing effectively, reiterating Baghdad’s commitment to institutional transparency and the safeguarding of public and private investment funds.