Speaker of the Parliament’s Commission of Article 90 (a constitutional article that puts the parliament in charge of investigating complaints made about the operation of the parliament,executive, and judiciary) has announced that 53% of the banks’ assets have been generated by non-banking activities. Mostafa Afzalifard noted business ventures undertaken by banks cannot be considered conventional banking affairs, IRNA reported. Afzalifard demanded that lenders’ non-banking ventures be reduced to 40%. The lawmaker expressed concern that the trend had turned banks into rivals of other industries, mentioning banks’ insistence on higher lending rates as evidence for their rivalry with manufacturers.”Some banks are making end-runs around regulations to set higher interest rates which is not acceptable,” the lawmaker complained. He said a meeting with the minister of economy last week focused on the issue followed by another meeting scheduled for Saturday.
