Banks Sepah’s Forex Transactions to Top $5b

Bank Sepah’s foreign exchange transactions have reached $4.2 billion and are expected to exceed $5 billion by the end of the fiscal year on March 20, said the CEO of Bank Sepah.

“In terms of resources, Bank Sepah has been successful as its growth rate in the current year shows a significant increase over the last three years,” Mohammad Kazem Choghazardi was also quoted as saying by Bank Sepah’s official website.

Hossein Qazavi, the deputy economy minister for banking and insurance affairs, said “since sanctions imposed on Iran have been lifted after years, banks should pay special attention to their foreign branches and procure their need for software, hardware and personnel”.

The official noted that banks should generate profits since they guarantee their survival, adding that the capital buffers of public-sector banks seem to have improved.

“Following amendments to the budget law in the current fiscal year to increase the capital of public-sector banks, the capital adequacy ratio of some of these banks has improved to 8%,” he said.

In a session presided over by President Hassan Rouhani in mid-January, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance was obliged to allocate 200 trillion rials ($5.2 billion) of excess funds to increase the government’s capital in state-owned banks.

Majlis Research Center earlier published a report late January, declaring that the minimum capital adequacy ratio should be 8%. The research arm of the Iranian Parliament also announced that capital adequacy ratio of Bank Sepah is at 2.46%, which was the second-lowest among the seven public-sector banks mentioned in the report.

Choghazardi said Bank Sepah has allocated “more than 12 trillion rials ($312.9 million) to small- and medium-sized enterprises in line with the goals of Resistance Economy” principles outlined by the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei to foster the non-oil sector of the economy.