Bank Melli Iran customers can now transfer money via a mobile app using the recipient’s phone number.
However, the service can only be used if both users – the sender and the receiver – have the mobile app according to Banker news website.
In the new app, after typing in the recipient’s phone number, a list of his/her account numbers appear, which can be chosen to transfer money.
Receiving ones account balance, account billing information, cash transfers, payment of loans and utility bills, mobile phone top-up service, enquiry about checks and their due date and also notifying the bank about lost debit cards can also be done via Bank Melli’s app.
Bank Melli is the first national Iranian bank. It was established in 1927 by a parliamentary order and since then has consistently been one of the most influential Iranian banks. It is now the largest commercial retail bank in Iran and the Middle East with over 3,300 branches and 43,000 employees.
The bank’s financial health has been called into question due to the large amount of toxic debt on its balance sheet. The Central Bank of Iran is pushing Bank Melli along with other state owned banks to offload their non-performing loans (NPLs) from their books to reinvigorate their status.
The bank handles most of the government’s financial transactions, including but not limited to taxes, fines, utility payments and government employee salary payments.
Due to being state owned, Bank Melli has lagged behind other banks in offering new services including e-banking.
The United States imposed unilateral sanctions against Iranian banks, on Oct. 25, 2007. Bank Melli was included in these sanctions, on the grounds that, besides its other customers, it provided financial services to Iran’s nuclear energy program. In a statement published on Bank Melli’s web site, the bank refuted US allegations and categorically denies that it has ever been involved in any “deceptive banking practices”.
