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July 29, 2005
Iraq: Peculiar and Misunderstanding Journals
I got this comment on my brief comment on an Iraqi brokerage (
We read with interest the comments made on isx-aman.com especially the critical remark questioning why the site of the firm is written wholly in English.
Perhaps some background information will suffice to explain the position of Aman Financial Services.
The Company has been in operation since 1995 as an official licensed brokerage firm. In its ten years of operations it has consistently been ranked among the top biggest brokers in Iraq in terms of volume of trade. Currently it has about 10% share in the market.
The client base of the company consisting of hundreds of small and large accounts are composed in the main of Iraqi cliental.
The company has stressed a policy of opening up to the expatriate Iraqi community and to international investors after the liberation of Iraq in 2003. This policy has been encapsulated in a decision to maintain the web site in English which is the most commonly used language globally. Even most of our Iraqi clients speak English.
We would have maintained the site in both Arabic and English were not for cost considerations.
On line Interment maintenance of accounts and placing of orders is best conducted in English. AFS remains the only Iraqi financial company to offer on line services.
Your readers must be assured that AFS maintains the highest standards which are being revised always to those adopted internationally as best practices.
AFS is proud that some prominent Iraqi economists and businessmen who have been living in Iraq prior to 2003 sit on its board of directors.
AFS
In some ways a reasonable explanation of my side note in re site language, although I would note that I know other sites that manage to maintain both Arabic and English and given what I know on the market, I find it hard to credit it as so terribly onerus. Nevertheless, a reasonable business decision on its face. What amused me was the corp PR speak. I mean really, anyone reading my bloody journal should know I have no patience for that here. In any case, the owners of AFS should be content to know that no one who reads my journal is going to be quite so mad as to put money on the Iraqi exchange, so no business is being lost via my sceptical comments on them. Caveat Emptor.
Regardless, best of luck to AFS, they will certainly need it.
Posted by The Lounsbury at July 29, 2005 01:29 PM
Filed Under:
Biz - Private in MENA
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Business
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Iraq
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Jan-July 2005
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