{"id":322222,"date":"2026-02-28T18:26:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T18:26:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/322222\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T18:26:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T18:26:08","slug":"syrias-central-bank-launches-reform-review-with-top-us-consultant-to-rebuild-global-trust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/322222\/","title":{"rendered":"Syria’s central bank launches reform review with top US consultant to rebuild global trust"},"content":{"rendered":"

Syria\u2019s<\/a> central bank has begun a review of its systems and compliance framework, entrusted to one of the world\u2019s major consulting firms.<\/p>\n

The move, according to bankers and economic experts, is critical to rebuilding international trust and kick-starting economic recovery<\/a>, and was was reportedly initiated under US pressure.<\/p>\n

US consulting firm Oliver Wyman confirmed it began a gap assessment of the central bank in February, a development first reported by The National in an interview <\/a>this week with central bank governor Abdulkader Husrieh.<\/p>\n

A gap assessment is a diagnostic review that maps the reforms an institution needs to meet international regulatory and compliance standards. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe will be working on addressing any compliance, governance and transparency benchmarks identified in their report,\u201d Mr Husrieh told The National. <\/p>\n

Informed sources said the review would take several months.<\/p>\n

Oliver Wyman has conducted extensive financial sector reviews and regulatory assessments across the Middle East, including in the Gulf, Lebanon and Iraq.<\/p>\n

Despite the lifting of far-reaching Western sanctions, foreign banks have been slow to re-establish ties with Syrian counterparts<\/a> due to risk perceptions and overcompliance. Long isolated from most international transactions, foreign lenders fear Syria\u2019s struggling banking sector may not be able to meet international standards. In practice, this means many Syrian banks still struggle to transfer and receive money abroad. <\/p>\n

As the regulator of the financial system, a review of the central bank\u2019s framework, including compliance, governance, anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing controls, is seen as pivotal to reviving ties with international correspondent banks and institutions such as the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would help ease the concerns of correspondent banks,\u201d Thaer Laham, deputy chairman of Fransabank Syria, told The National, describing the step as a milestone in rebuilding trust.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is always helpful to receive an assessment from a neutral third party that can attest the Syrian banking sector is ready to re-engage with the international banking community,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Syrian private banks have been informed of the initiative and told they will be involved at a later stage.<\/p>\n

‘Cleaning’ the financial sector<\/p>\n

Washington has been co-ordinating closely with Damascus since the fall of the Bashar Al Assad regime, after decades of isolation. This included several high-profile diplomatic visits and meetings between President Donald Trump and his counterpart Ahmad Al Shara.<\/p>\n

As the US seeks stability in a new Syria, with major US companies signing deals in the country, it has also pushed Damascus to adhere to international rules and standards.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo financial entity in the world would risk going to Syria only to find there is no compliance,\u201d an informed source told The National.<\/p>\n

But the dilapidated state of Syria\u2019s banking sector remains a major obstacle to economic recovery and to managing the billions of dollars in foreign investment expected to flow into the war-torn country to fund reconstruction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout that, no funding for the reconstruction will materialise. The bottom line is that everyone, including the US, wants to keep Syria economically stable, which is why the initiative was proposed,\u201d the source added.<\/p>\n

Under Assad, Syria was closely aligned with heavily sanctioned Iran and its proxies, with the economy mostly relying on a multi-billion-dollar captagon<\/a> trade that served as a vital financial lifeline amid draconian Western restrictions.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder Assad, Syria\u2019s financial sector gathered a lot of dirt,\u201d the source said. \u201cUS banks will want to be 100% sure the market is clean and that any re-engagement does not expose them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Benjamin Feve, a senior research analyst at Karam Shaar advisory, based in Istanbul, said the gap assessment would be \u201cuseful\u201d for Syria\u2019s financial sector, providing \u201ca structured risk report with documented evidence of the current situation and a clear road map to strengthen controls”.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt can help improve external perceptions of the central bank\u2019s compliance efforts and make it easier for US and European banks to justify a cautious re-engagement with the Syrian banking sector,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

But challenges remain, including security risks for the US company to perform on-site visits. <\/p>\n

In January, clashes between the Syrian army and the Kurdish armed group that controlled Syria\u2019s north-east led to the cancellation of a business trip in Damascus, which included German bankers. The visit was seen as vital to help reconnect Syria with international banks.<\/p>\n

An integration deal was signed in January between the Kurdish-led administration and the central government, but other security concerns, including the looming threat of an ISIS resurgence, have resurfaced.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Syria\u2019s central bank has begun a review of its systems and compliance framework, entrusted to one of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":322223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[72,113,87048,61,60,1284,329,47062],"class_list":{"0":"post-322222","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-economy","10":"tag-foreign-desk-team","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-standard","14":"tag-story","15":"tag-syria"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322222","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=322222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/322222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/322223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=322222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=322222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=322222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}