The maximum value of Letters of Credit allocated by the Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI) to the country's private banking sector has been doubled, in response to a strong increase in demand for cross-border trade finance, the chairman of the bank, Hussein Al-Uzri, said. Last year 945 Letters of Credit were allocated to private banks, at a value of approximately $500m. The total number allocated to private banks by TBI is 2,446, at a value of about $3bn. TBI has increased the value of each Letter of Credit from a value of up to $2m to a new maximum of $4m.