Syria expects first transfer with US bank 'within weeks'

DAMASCUS - Syria expects to have its first transaction with a US bank "in a matter of weeks", Syrian central bank governor Abdelkader Husriyeh said on Thursday, a day after a high-level meeting between Syrian and US commercial banks.

The resumption of transfers between Syrian and US banks would be a key milestone in the push by Syria’s new rulers to reintegrate the country into the global financial system after 14 years of civil war.

Husriyeh on Wednesday held a virtual conference bringing together Syrian banks, several US banks and US officials, including Washington's Syria Envoy Thomas Barrack, with the aim of speeding up the reconnection of Syria's banking system to the global financial system.

This follows US President Donald Trump’s announcement in May that all sanctions on Syria would be lifted. That has been followed up with executive orders formally lifting some of the measures.

Syria's reintegration into the global financial system would be a major step towards enabling the kind of large financial transactions needed to kickstart its reconstruction and economic activity, and help rein in a highly informal, cash-based economy.

Husriyeh extended a formal invitation to US banks to re-establish correspondent banking ties following the ouster of former Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad, whose crackdown on 2011 protests resulted in Western countries imposing one of the world’s strictest sanctions regimes.

"We have two clear targets: have US banks set up representative offices in Syria and have transactions resume between Syrian and American banks. I think the latter can happen in a matter of weeks," Husriyeh told Reuters.

Among the banks invited to Wednesday’s conference were JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley and CitiBank, though it was not immediately clear who attended.