Credit Agricole, Crédit Industriel et Commercial (CIC), Société Générale are prepared to restore ties with Iran, Valiollah Seif, governor of the Central Bank of Iran said on Friday.
“Governor of Banque de France (Central Bank of France) expressed willingness to launch correspondent banking relations with the CBI,” ILNA quoted him as saying.
Seif referred to Credit Agricole’s long presence in Iran and said “Cooperation with Credit Agricole is of high importance to us since the bank is familiar with Iranian markets.”
“CBI has cleared the way for Crédit Industriel et Commercial (CIC) and Société Générale to restart their relations with Iran,” Seif said.
Credit Agricole, the second largest bank in France had to pay $800 million in fines last year to settle charges it broke US sanctions rules on Iran and other countries.
CIC, founded in 1859, is a subsidiary of Credit Mutual, France’s largest bank while Société Générale is France’s third largest bank by total assets, seventh largest in Europe
CBI also reached an agreement with Coface, France’s export credit agency, for settling Coface’s debts to Iran, Seif said without providing details.
Pointing to Iran’s call to improve its credit rating, Seif said, “The Bern Union would decide about Iran’s credit rating following our discussions with SACE, Hermes and Coface.”
According to a CBI press release, Coface is now able to help and provide guarantees for Iran’s medium and long-term projects, in compliance with international rules.
Coface is in charge of public export guarantees on behalf of the French government with 160,000 clients in 93 countries.
