Money moves again in Iraq's Mosul, but not via banks

Since jihadists were ousted from Mosul last year, taxi driver Abu Aref has ferried more than just people into Iraq's second city: he regularly smuggles envelopes stuffed with cash. This is how salaries are paid and bills settled in the northern metropolis, despite the banks reopening since Iraqi forces seized it back last year from the Islamic State group after three years of jihadist rule.
Iraqi authorities, fearing that free flows of money could help finance an IS comeback, have not authorised even simple transfers. So Mosul banks, exchange offices, and money transfer companies have watched helplessly as more rudimentary methods fill the gap. Abu Aref said he typically carries anywhere between $10,000 (8,800 euros) to $50,000 at a time in his cab. "I put the money in an envelope that I then tape underneath my seat," he told AFP.
The journey can be risky. One of his colleagues was recently the victim of a highway robbery along the 200-kilometre (120-mile) route between Mosul and Baiji, further south. "Despite the risks, businessmen entrust this much money to me because they don't have another choice," the 35 year-old said. IS swept into Mosul in 2014, seizing several hundred million dollars from a branch of Iraq's central bank and other financial institutions. Mosul came back under Iraqi government control in July 2017 after a months-long assault that left its infrastructure devastated, but IS cells appear to remain active. Security forces last month arrested nearly a dozen members of an IS financial network based in Iraq, according to a US-led coalition against the jihadists in Iraq and Syria. The central bank has remained wary of resuming operations in Mosul, saying it wants to know "where this money comes from and where it's going".
Around 20 private and state-owned banks have reopened in Mosul, allowing residents to open an account, deposit and withdraw money, and issue cheques. But the central bank has not budged on its ban on transfers to and from the city. Secret transfers even continued during IS's rule over the city, with family members living in Baghdad finding ways to smuggle money to relatives stuck inside Mosul. Some of that cash, says Ahmed, has contributed to the revival already visible in Mosul. Even if the banks sit empty, the restaurants, commercial centres, and open markets are now buzzing with activity.