Standard Chartered bank today announced that it has won the mandate to support Honeywell’s trade and cash management in Iraq. In addition to offering trade finance guarantees through its electronic Straight2Bank platform, Standard Chartered will provide a credit line to open bank accounts for both Honeywell’s central Iraq legal entity and their Erbil entity.

As Honeywell’s core cash bank, it will offer cash management advisory services, and customized cash management solutions that will accord Honeywell with visibility over all its cash flows in and out of Iraq.

Dynamic set of risks

Honeywell’s Ciar Timon, Senior Regional Treasury Manager, believes that implementing a solution in a country like Iraq, which is still relatively unstable politically and economically, presents a dynamic set of risks. Working with Standard Chartered has ensured a high level of agility and visibility that was necessary to mitigate such risks.

Iraq is a key pillar in Honeywell’s growth in the Middle East. The complicated banking systems and regulatory landscape make this a task that requires on the ground presence and expertise in cash management. In addition to an online bank guarantee solution, which will save an estimated 100 hours per annum, SCB expects Honeywell will benefit from process efficiencies, pricing enhancements and risk mitigation.

Standard Chartered in Iraq

Standard Chartered launched its operations in Iraq in November 2013 and is the only international bank with two on-the-ground branches in Baghdad and Erbil. The Bank is mainly focused on supporting existing multi-national clients from the oil and gas, telecom, infrastructure and power sectors. Gavin Wishart, CEO, Standard Chartered Iraq said: “This mandate is perfectly aligned to our strategy in Iraq which aims to support our existing multi-national client needs in Iraq. Standard Chartered is the only international bank offering world-class financial services in Iraq and this mandate is testament to our continued commitment to our clients in the country.”