​Presenting “Iraq’s incremental shift to digital payments,” a private webinar by The Realistic Optimist.

​This webinar features Rabel Kaka in conversation with Aakash Athawasya on Iraq’s evolving fintech and digital payments ecosystem.

​Rabel Kaka is a senior research associate at MAGNiTT and an RO Ambassador.

​Over the past few months, Rabel has extensively researched Iraq’s fintech sector, interviewing founders, investors, regulators, and operators across the ecosystem.

​His two-part RO Long Read series explores the realities behind Iraq’s push toward digital payments:

• ​The trust deficit underpinning cash usage

• ​The evolution of the country’s payments infrastructure

• ​The role of regulators, and

• ​The founders building within these constraints

​As the title suggests, this webinar’s core thesis is that Iraq’s transition toward digital payments is incremental, behavioral, and deeply institutional. Despite rising smartphone penetration, expanding payment rails, and increasing government support for digital finance, Iraq remains an overwhelmingly cash-dominant economy. Why? What frictions continue to hold digital adoption back? And how are fintech companies, regulators, and payment providers attempting to shift consumer behavior?

​To find out, tune into the webinar on June 9 at 5 PM Arabian Standard Time.

​This is a private webinar. Registration does not imply approval. The RO team will carefully evaluate each attendee based on their relevance to the topic. Attendees might be kindly rejected. RO subscribers have priority access.

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​Aakash
COO, The Realistic Optimist