Bank Sepah Planning China, S. Korea Branches

Bank Sepah plans to open branches in China and South Korea, a board member of the bank said.

"Bank Sepah has plans to increase its share in establishing branches and to set up new branches in China and South Korea," Mostafa Parto Afkanan said, IBENA reported.

The lender is going to be more active in Asia and that is why it has been decided to open branches in the two countries, he noted.

"We are in preliminary communications regarding the opening of the branches, but the Central Bank of Iran must first issue the necessary permits," he said.

On Bank Sepah's other international operations after the easing of sanctions following the nuclear agreement with the six world powers, he said in the first six months of the current fiscal year to September 21 the bank opened 2 billion dollars worth of letters of credit.

Noting that efforts are underway to open overseas accounts for his bank, the board member said "we have established links with three European banks. Using this opportunity we can work with European banks and conduct banking operations in all European branches that are connected to Target2 system."

Parto Afkanan also said Sepah will open a new and independent branch in London. "All the staff have been appointed in this branch and dealings are also on the rise," he said. "We have also made contact and held negotiations for credit insurance.

Sepah has inked $10 billion worth of deals with the National Development Fund of Iran which will be used for sectors like oil and petrochemicals and power plants.

The bank "has no frozen assets" and has increased its overseas bank branches' capital by €50 million.

In conclusion, he spoke of a new 10 trillion rial ($314.2 million) credit line for the production sector, saying close to 70% of the amount has been allocated and the rest will be made available soon."