The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a trade finance facility of up to $25mn (€21.3mn) to Bank of Baghdad (ISX:BBOB), the lender said on September 16.

The facility is among the first substantial commitments the bank has made in Iraq since it opened operations there in September 2025, and targets the correspondent banking relationships that Iraqi lenders lost as international banks withdrew from the market.

The facility comes under the EBRD's Trade Facilitation Programme and is intended to increase the bank's import and export transactions and widen its correspondent banking network, with the aim of improving access to trade finance for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises engaged in cross-border trade.

The EBRD will fund technical cooperation covering advisory support, specialised training, its trade finance e-learning programme and workshops.

The European Union will separately finance a training curriculum for Bank of Baghdad covering core and advanced banking competencies, including a module on expanding access to financial services for underserved groups, including women.

Bank of Baghdad is among Iraq's three largest private banks, with total assets of $2.2bn at the end of 2025 and 35 branches. Jordan Kuwait Bank, a subsidiary of KIPCO, owns a majority stake.

The Trade Facilitation Programme was launched in 1999 and provides guarantees and short-term loans to participating banks and factoring companies for on-lending to local exporters, importers and distributors.

The EU is the largest provider of official development cooperation to Iraq.