CBI Seeks Shadow Bank Solutions

The Central Bank of Iran has called on pundits in the banking field to offer ideas and solutions for eradicating all traces of illegal credit institutions in the country’s monetary market.

Valiollah Seif, the CBI governor, urged experts to offer solutions–the best of which will be awarded–to realize the vision of a “monetary market free of unlicensed institutions”, the official website of the central bank reported.

“In the era of sanctions, the banking system was unfortunately lagging in international know-how and it is necessary that this gap be filled by appropriate measures,” he said, pointing to the banking system’s dire need for a talented workforce armed with the latest information.

The Iranian banking system is only beginning to get accustomed to a monetary market void of shadow banks as they had spawned during the tenure of previous administrations and grew exponentially in the absence of supervision to take up about one-fourth of the country’s liquidity and force legitimate financial institutions to catch up with them by offering unreasonably high interest rates.

The CBI chief referred to the banking system’s personnel as the driving force of the Iranian economy and said the bank-based Iranian economy will be unable to grow while its lenders lag behind.

“In spite of the fact that the banking system is facing many challenges, its role is vitally important even as a myriad of issues have piled up over the past decades,” he said.

Seif stressed that President Hassan Rouhani’s second term is focused on monetary discipline and stability with the aim of boosting economic growth, creating jobs and supporting production as in the first four years.