How to Develop Trust in the Distrusted Banking System of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq

 This study merged qualitative and quantitative approaches in sequential and equal weight. The primary data collection for this study started with the collection of qualitative data through conducting semi-structured interviews with bank managers and government officials at the ministry of finance in order to identify the main obstacles that they believed faced the current banking system in the KR. Analysis of these results led to the design of a questionnaire survey involving 520 current and potential bank customers to identify the main barriers which cause a continuing lack of trust amongst KR people in the banking system. The study confirmed that the banking system in the KR has either never gained or completely lost the trust of the KR. It has identified several reasons for this including inertia amongst national banks, limited literacy in certain sections of the population and a risk-adverse culture. One of the other major factors preventing the use of banks within the KR is the lack of trust in banks. However, the study has also identified sections of the population who do have a positive interaction with banks, these are mainly younger adults who have been exposed to western banking systems including e-banking.