Bank Saderat outperformed 19 banks in terms of providing young couples with marriage loans over the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2015). Granting 22% of total marriage loans, Saderat allocated 10.74 trillion rials ($37 million at official exchange rate) in total to 263,000 young individuals. Moreover, the private lender provided 16,000 newly married couples with over 1 trillion rials ($3.5 million) in loan aggregately during the first quarter of this year, Banker news website reported on Thursday. Marriage loans amounting to 30 million rials ($877) for each applicant are offered as a government-backed scheme at 4% interest to financially support young couples. The issue has recently come under the spotlight after political leaders encouraged young people to marry and have more kids to compensate the slow pace of population growth.
