Seven Iranian banks are connected to SWIFT, the international interbank messaging network, offering their clients a window to the global banking system, said the vice governor of the central bank on Saturday.
In 2012, SWIFT cut off Iranian banks subjected to EU sanctions over Iran’s nuclear energy program, which shut down a major avenue of doing business with the rest of the world.
“Private banks are not under sanctions,” Said the central bank vice governor for foreign exchange affairs, Gholamali Kamyab, Fars News Agency reported.
Belgium-based SWIFT, which facilitates the bulk of global cross-border payments, disconnected designated Iranian financial firms from its messaging system on March 2012, after European regulators ordered the company to do so.
However, some banks remained connected to the system. Maskan and Keshavarzi are the only two state-owned banks that remained connected to the world’s biggest electronic payment system. Furthermore, banks Saman, Parsian, Pasargad, Middle East and Day are private or publicly-owned lenders so far linked to the network.
SWIFT or Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication has been described as the glue of the global banking system, handling daily payments estimated at more than $6 trillion.
Lifting Sanctions
Iran and six powers–Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States—are trying to end a more than 12-year dispute over Iran’s nuclear energy program by negotiating limits on its activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
Iran and the major powers gave themselves until Monday to reach a nuclear agreement, their third extension in two weeks, as Tehran accused the West of throwing up new stumbling blocks to a deal.
A deal that would see the lifting of sanctions is expected to lunge the Iranian economy forward, create a surge in commercial activity and flood Iranian banks with outside business.
Bank Day
Bank Day is the most recent addition on the list of Iranian banks connected to SWIFT. The bank held celebrations for officially joining SWIFT on Friday.
The lender’s chief executive, Ahmad Shafizadeh, announced the news, saying, “From now on, Day can contact banks and financial institutions in various countries via this global network.”
The announcement highlights the eagerness of Iranian banks to reestablish links with their foreign counterparts.
