How Iraq’s first digital bank is reshaping cash-driven economy
When Kawa Junad began building Iraq 's first digital bank, the biggest challenge was not technology. It was persuading Iraqis of the value of banking itself when most of them had never needed one. For Mr Junad, the founder of First Iraqi Bank, that meant tackling what he calls a “chicken and egg” problem: customers needed merchants to accept digital payments, but merchants needed customers before…
Iraq's inaugural digital bank, First Iraqi Bank (FIB), is transforming the cash-driven economy by overcoming the initial hurdles of convincing Iraqis to adopt banking. Co-founder Kawa Junad faced the "chicken and egg" problem of acquiring both customers and merchants before the digital payment ecosystem could flourish. By late 2021, FIB had established partnerships with approximately 3,000 small and medium-sized businesses, marking a turning point for the start-up.
FIB's expansion from a digital banking startup to a platform with over a million customers reflects the evolution of Iraq's traditionally cash-based economy, as younger consumers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) increasingly embrace digital payments. Despite being a digital-only institution, FIB utilizes physical branches to aid its expansion strategy.
The bank's innovative approach includes streamlined onboarding, digital ID solutions, and payment tools, enabling customers to open an account in just five minutes using a mobile phone and identification documents. Around 90 percent of FIB's 1.3 million registered customers had never held a bank account previously, relying primarily on cash transactions. The bank's rise has been propelled by QR payments, with transactions increasing by over 85 percent from 2024 to 2025, and more than 70 percent in the first half of 2026.
FIB's services now extend beyond payments, with about 30 percent of its customer base utilizing savings, credit, and salary accounts, signifying the next phase of Iraq's digital banking experiment. This progression includes moving customers from digital payments to deeper relationships with the banking system and potentially providing banks with more data for assessing customers.
The Central Bank of Iraq's recent digital banking regulations in 2024 have created a conducive environment for FIB's growth, with several other digital banks set to launch. Kawa Junad asserts that this digital banking transformation is a "game-changer" for an economy where informal cash transactions are prevalent.
Written by urgent.news from The National UAE's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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