Al-Thawra: First private commercial bank in Syria lisenced

The central bank in Syria has approved the opening of the first private commercial bank in implementation of the law provided for founding private banks, approved by the Syrian parliament since more than one year.

The Syrian daily al-Thawra said yesterday that the capital of this bank is estimated at 30 million dollars and this new bank is under the name of "the International bank for Commerce and Financing." It is a joint venture of a group of financial establishments which are the Jordanian Housing Bank for finance and commerce at 49%, the Syrian- Libyan company for industrial and agricultural investments at 25% and the Kuwaiti united company for investment at 15%.