The Development Bank of Hungary (MFI) is ready to provide Sarmaye Bank with SWIFT services even before the official lifting of the sanctions, MFI’s official representative said Thursday.
During a visit to Sarmaye Bank head office in Tehran, Thomas Balogh, referred to the MFI’s long-term plans to cooperate with the Iranian banking industry, and said, “MFI wishes to take the lead in reconnecting Iran to the European banking system,” the Iranian bank’s public relations office reported.
MFI’s representative also offered to provide Visa, MasterCard and other credit card services to Iranian. “For now an English draft for SWIFT agreement is ready and will be sent to Sarmaye for review,” he said.
Opening branches in Iran, promoting joint investments in the auto and petroleum sectors, as well as financing informatics are among the Hungarian bank’s other areas of interest in post-sanctions Iran.
Parviz Ahmadi, Bank Sarmaye’s CEO, expressed his bank’s interest in SWIFT services and said “Establishing a joint branch could be a good start for developing two-way cooperation.”
He noted that the private lender had an agreement with Dresdner Bank of Germany for issuing credit cards but the deal was cancelled after the implementation of international sanctions.
Tehran has been under stringent economic and banking sanctions for more than a decade over the dispute over its nuclear energy program the West claims is a cover for developing an atomic bomb. Iran rejects the claim and has declared that the program is for peaceful purposes.
Iran and the six world powers (five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany) reached an agreement in July in Vienna that would remove the crippling sanctions in return for Tehran’s compromise that limits some features of the nuclear program. Easing of the sanctions is expected to commence early next year.
