ZILKHA

ZILKHA, family of bankers originating in baghdad . KHEDOURY ZILKHA (1884–1956), a descendant of textile traders, founded the family banking house in Baghdad in 1899 with a capital of $250. Baghdad's rising importance as a communications and trading center contributed to his success as a banker. Under the threat of extortionists he left Baghdad in 1926 and as a result, interest rates rose considerably in the Baghdad bazaar. In 1927 Zilkha opened a bank in beirut , followed by branches in damascus (1935) and cairo (1937). In 1941 Zilkha settled in the United States where he and his four sons, MAURICE (1917–1964), ABDULLA (1913– ), Ezra (1925– ), and SELIM (1927– ), began to operate a successful worldwide network of financing and foreign exchange operations. In 1950, however, the original Baghdad house was seized by the Iraqi government, and in 1956 the Cairo firm was expropriated by the Egyptian government. (Joachim O.Ronall)