Iranian Bank NPLs at 10%

The ratio of Iranian banks' non-performing loans to total loans stood at 10% after four years of President Hassan Rouhani's tenure, said the Central Bank of Iran's governor.

"NPLs' ratio dropped in the past four years from 15% to 10%, but their volume reached 1 quadrillion rials ($26.6 billion) to register an increase of 160 trillion rials ($4.2 billion)," ISNA also quoted Valiollah Seif as saying.

Seif noted that the figure of NPLs is not definite yet since the current loans might turn into sour debt, but he also emphasized that the ratio of bad loans is more important than their volume.

The CBI governor also elaborated on the list of the biggest bank debtors.

"CBI issued a directive to all banks, asking them to introduce their 20 biggest debtors and the data resulted in a list of 575,000 major debtors," he added.  

Seif said the list prepared the ground for further probes by the judiciary while CBI simultaneously formed a task force to pursue the matter as instructed by the Headquarters of Combating Financial Crimes.

The trend of Iranian banking system in recovering non-performing loans has gained momentum and brought the NPL ratio close to international standards.

The main reason behind the improvement in NPL ratios was the Cabinet’s move in February approving the penalty waiver for loans amounting to 1 billion rials ($28,178).

According to a Central Bank of Iran study, capital market immaturity, using banks’ limited resources for solving structural problems of the economy and the internal workings of Iranian banks have largely contributed to the high rate of NPLs.