Central Bank of Iran has required individual customers to provide documents showing the reason for transactions above 2 billion rials ($13,340 as per Sunday exchange rates).
This is said to be in line with renewed efforts to improve transparency and accountability of bank transactions, enforce stringent anti-money laundering measures and fight tax evasion, according to a bylaw issued by the CBI.
The executive bylaw is drawn from an amendment to the Anti-Money Laundering Law signed by the Cabinet in January, IRNA reported.
Accordingly, individual bank customers should state the reason for transactions over and above the threshold when filling out bank forms. In addition, they must “provide documents to prove that the transaction is the result of a valid business deal, concluding a contract or other purposes,” the bylaw reads.
The bylaw exempts customers who use commercial accounts, saying that these customers are like institutional and legal persons.
The CBI had earlier announced similar rules on legal entities. Last month, it obliged bank clients to provide authentic and verifiable documents regarding the purpose of transactions above 10 billion rials ($67,000).
CBI Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati in January announced plans to separate personal accounts from corporate accounts.
Tighter Rules
“The CBI is committed to preventing the unbridled circulation of money in the banking system, which is the function of (and leads to) money laundering and speculative operations”.
The CBI has tightened restrictions on circulation of money in recent months to meet anti-money laundering requirements, in bid to satisfy the norms and standards of the Financial Action Task Force.
Last October the CBI made it mandatory for banks and credit institutions to set up special units to deal with suspected money laundering and relevant issues.
In the same month, a CBI bylaw made it mandatory for banks and credit institutions to create special units to deal with possible money laundering cases.
The Paris-based FATF has long urged Iran to strengthen its legal framework to guard against money laundering and terror funding.
The international watchdog in February put Iran on its blacklist after Tehran failed to fully comply with anti-money laundering norms of the organization.
