The Commercial Bank of Syria ( ar, المصرف التجاري السوري) is a fully government owned bank in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

. It is the largest

commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution which accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make profit. It can also refer to a bank, or a division of a large bank, which deals with cor ...

in Syria with its headquarters in

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

. The Commercial Bank accounts for the highest assets share in the banking sector, amounting to 37% of all bank assets at the end of 2017. The bank offers commercial banking services including long-term

loans In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that de ...

in Syrian pounds, armored car service, and collections services. The bank has dozens of branches and ATM's throughout Syria. In 1966, the state achieved complete ownership of commercial banking in Syria by merging all existing commercial banks into a single consolidated Commercial Bank of Syria. In 1974, the Commercial Bank incorporated in Lebanon the Syrian-Lebanese Commercial Bank, in which it owns 85%. Until the 2010s, the Commercial Bank was the only bank in Syria allowed to deal with foreign currency, and allowed and able to finance foreign trade.

Sanctions

Following the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War, in August 2011, the

Office of Foreign Assets Control The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the U.S. Treasury Department. It administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions in support of U.S. national security and foreign policy ob ...

of the U.S Department of the Treasury designated the bank as

Specially Designated Nationals The Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List, also known as the SDN List, is a United States government sanctions/embargo measure targeting U.S.-designated terrorists, officials and beneficiaries of certain authoritarian regimes, a ...

. OFAC designated the bank and its Lebanese subsidiary under the authority of

Executive Order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of th ...

13382 (signed on June 29, 2005), which is aimed at "disrupting the activities of

weapons of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to numerous individuals or cause great damage to artificial structures (e.g., buildings), natura ...

proliferators and their sources of support". It banned U.S. banks and their overseas subsidiaries from maintaining a correspondend account with the Commercial Bank of Syria and required them to conduct due diligence that ensured that the Commercial Bank of Syria was not circumventing sanctions through their business dealings with them. The European Union also imposed sanctions on the bank in October 2011 with its assets frozen.

References

External links

* Banks of Syria Banks established in 1967 Government-owned companies of Syria Companies based in Damascus 1967 establishments in Syria Syrian brands {{Asia-bank-stub

Sanctions

See also

References

External links