PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which acts as provisional liquidator for the state-owned institution, says it has received 134 claims totaling some $300m from around 40 countries.

The deadline for claims has now passed, and PwC will meet with creditors on 18 November to discuss their claims further.

In April, the UK High Court approved a scheme of arrangement enabling foreign creditors to submit claims. The claimants hold letters of credit with the bank, having supplied goods to Iraqi businesses during the Saddam era, and have never been paid (MEED 4:4:08).

The bank was placed in provisional liquidation in 1991. However, it is only since the removal of Saddam Hussein and the lifting of sanctions in 2003 that the case has made progress.