The Central Bank of Iran plans to merge the remaining uncertified credit institutions in order to regulate their operations, said Abbas Kamarei, director of CBI’s Office for Bank Supervision. He added that merging Afzal Tous Credit Institution with an authorized bank is on CBI’s agenda, banker.ir reported on Monday. The central bank is also reviewing the performance of bureaux de change before renewing their licenses. The CBI has only listed 264 exchangers on its website as legal, while hundreds of other exchangers have fallen short of CBI’s criteria. Money changers claim that CBI’s criteria are too high. CBI requires exchangers to put up a hefty 40-billion-rial ($1.2-million) reserve with the bank.
