The Central Bank of Iran says it hopes naming and shaming the big loan defaulters would help recover the billions in unpaid loans.
In a coordinated move initiated by the Economy Ministry, several state and semiprivate banks last week published long lists of companies that had failed to meet their financial commitments over several years.
“Disclosing the names should help in recovering the monies for banks,”Mahboub Sadeqi, head of CBI’s Banking Data Department said in a talk with state TV late on Sunday.
Asked why lenders had refused to publish the names of defaulters in the past, he said disclosing the names was made possible by newly-passed legislation and in the past the CBI was not allowed to do so due to rules guiding confidentiality considerations.
As per rules in the 2022-23 budget, the CBI is obliged to publicly reveal the names of defaulters and update it on a quarterly basis.
The senior bank official said that the CBI will soon gather data on loans by all private and state banks and publish a comprehensive list of defaulters.
High NPLs have hurt the balance sheets of banks and forced them to suspend lending, despite the chronic need of businesses. This, coupled with other ills have put banks at the center of strong criticism by economic experts and business leaders.
CBI data show bad loans reached 2,349 trillion rials ($8.7 billion) by the end of the first half of last fiscal year on Sept. 21.
