Account Reopened in Paris
Syria's central bank announced on 7 July 2026 that it had reactivated its banking relationship with Banque de France by reopening the account it maintains at the French institution. The step, the bank said, is meant to create an environment for financial and technical cooperation between the two countries' central banks.
Restoring Global Links
The central bank said its external strategy now centers on reactivating the accounts it holds at major central banks around the world and on removing obstacles that Syrian lenders face abroad. It pointed to direct contact with international banks as the way to rebuild the connections that permit cross-border transfers and settlement.
Reopening a working account at a large European central bank is a move toward restoring correspondent banking, the web of interbank accounts that lets a country's banks move money across borders. Years of isolation and sanctions left much of the Syrian banking sector detached from that network, pushing trade and remittances into slower or informal channels.
A Capacity-Building Pact
On the same day, the governor of the central bank, Safwat Raslan, and Jeremy Pelle, chief executive of the French public agency Expertise France, signed a memorandum of understanding. The document is aimed at strengthening the central bank's institutional capacity and at providing technical support and staff training.
What It Signals
Whether Syrian importers, exporters and citizens abroad can send and receive money through the formal system depends on relationships like these. A functioning account at a major central bank is a prerequisite for the clearing and settlement that ordinary bank transfers rely on.
Restoring even one such account suggests that some international institutions are prepared to reengage with Syria's financial system after a long freeze. The announcement formed part of a wider set of contacts between Damascus and Paris in early July 2026, though officials framed the central bank steps as a distinct track focused on monetary and technical cooperation.