Citi to Establish Representative Office in Iraq

BAGHDAD - Monday, June 24th 2013 [ME NewsWire]

(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Citi has been granted preliminary approval by the Central Bank of Iraq to establish a representative office in Baghdad.

The approval will be announced formally tonight during a ceremony hosted at the US Embassy in Baghdad by the United States Ambassador to Iraq, the Honorable Stephen Beecroft, in the presence of guests and dignitaries, including a Citi delegation led by Mr. James Cowles, Citi’s Chief Executive Officer for Europe, Middle East & Africa.

The office in Baghdad will support Citi’s clients in the country and the bank will also look to open two more representative offices in Erbil and Basra at a later stage, subject to approval by the Central Bank of Iraq.

Citi’s representative office will be led by Dennis Flannery, who has been managing the bank’s Iraq Desk based in Amman, Jordan for the past two years. Flannery has 40 years of global banking experience and served as the US Treasury Department's Financial Attaché at the US Embassy in Baghdad immediately prior to joining Citi.

“Iraq is an important market, with an economy that has substantial potential over time. Having a presence in Iraq will position us to better attune our services to the banking needs of our clients as they grow and develop their businesses in the country,” said Cowles. “It will also help us to provide liaison functions for Citi’s clients globally and contribute to the development of Iraq’s banking and capital markets.”

The representative office will be supported by Citi’s offices in Amman, Jordan as well as Dubai, UAE.

Citi has been in the Middle East for over 50 years and offers full scale institutional banking services in UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan. Citi's institutional capabilities in the Middle East include Transaction Services, Investment Banking, Capital Markets Origination, Fixed Income Currencies & Commodities and Islamic Banking.

About Citi

Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.

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Contacts

Media Contacts
Dubai:
Karim Seifeddine, +971 (4) 509-9707
karim.seifeddine@citi.com

or

London:
Jeff French, +44 (0) 207 500 8304
Jeffrey.french@citi.com