Minister of Economy Ali Tayyebnia has called for fundamental reforms in the banking system, saying an integrated system should be created in the banking sector to collect customers’ information and avoid toxic loans, an issue threatening the industry in a serious way. He said the loans provided by banks over the last three years have increased by 60% in value and statistics show that NPLs ratio has now decreased to 12.2%, IRNA reported on Tuesday. In the past couple of years, the government has helped form specialized courts, anti-economic corruption committee and a working group in the Central bank of Iran to address rising NPLs, he said. He also rejected the criticism that the Money and Credit Council dictated the government’s policies to the CBI, saying: “To promote CBI’s independence, the presidency of the council was given to the governor of the central bank, so the economy minister has little impact on monetary policymaking.”
