Tehran, Pretoria Favor Banking Linkup

South Africa’s Ambassador to Iran Max Philemon Whithead said the biggest problem in the way of the two countries’ bilateral trade is lack of banking links, therefore the two governments are making efforts to establish direct banking ties.

“Iran’s nuclear deal significantly eased mutual relations but our major banks, namely Barclays and Standard Bank, are multinational and since Iran’s sanctions have not been completely removed yet, they cannot cooperate with Iranian banks,” Whithead was quoted as saying by IRNA.

He added that Iran and South Africa can establish banking ties through their central banks, but a few banks from both countries could also be selected to conduct direct banking transactions.