Iranian Banks' Foreign Assets Up 14.2%

The total value of Iranian banks' foreign assets stood at 2.69 quadrillion rials ($64.33 billion) by Oct. 22 to register an increase of 14.2% compared with the same period of last year.

According to the latest data published on Monday by the Central Bank of Iran detailing Iran’s economic indicators, private banks and non-bank credit institutions account for the biggest share of financial institutions' foreign assets at 1.64 quadrillion rials ($39.22 billion).

Private banks and non-bank credit institutions owned 61% of the total figure, showing a growth of 8.3% compared with the previous year's figures.

The five state-owned specialized banks also experienced a 22.6% surge in foreign assets year-on-year to reach 645 trillion rials ($15.42 billion), accounting for 23.1% of the total sum.

The smallest share of foreign assets belong to three commercial state-owned banks at 401.2 trillion rials ($9.59 billion), which account for the remaining 15.8% of total foreign assets.

This is while the Central Bank of Iran’s foreign assets also experienced a slight year-on-year growth of 5.4%. The value of CBI’s foreign assets exceeds 3.5 quadrillion rials ($83.7 billion), which is significantly bigger than the collective value of all Iranian banks’ foreign assets.

Deposit Growth

The Iranian private sector's deposits in banks and non-bank financial institutions reached 13.68 quadrillion rials ($327.19 billion) by Oct. 22, marking a 23.8% growth year-on-year.

By the end of the month to Oct. 22, private lenders managed to attract roughly 9.67 quadrillion rials ($231.28 billion) in private sector deposits, which means 70.68% of total non-public savings are held by private lenders. The private lenders' deposits registered a growth of 21.3% compared with last year’s same period.

This is while commercial state-owned banks and specialized banks have respectively attracted 2.64 quadrillion rials ($63.14 billion) and 1.36 quadrillion rials ($32.52 billion) worth of savings from the private sector to account for 20.11% and 9.1% of the total.

The volume of deposits in commercial state-owned banks and specialized banks up to the end of the aforementioned period had also increased by 35.9% and 20.6%, respectively.

According to CBI data, the amount of term deposits in banks grew by 24.8% compared with the previous year, whereas the figure recorded a 13.8% growth during the seven months ending Aug. 22.

The lion’s share of deposits were in the form of non-sight deposits that accounted for 90.7% of the total volume at 12.4 quadrillion rials ($296.57 billion), up 24.8% YOY. Sight deposits accounted for only 1.29 quadrillion rials ($30.8 billion), constituting 9.3% of the total sum.

The total volume of banks’ reserve requirements in CBI also witnessed an annual growth of 22.4% and reached 1.5 quadrillion rials ($35.87 billion), as a result of the establishment of new banks and credit institutions, and the significant recapitalization of state-owned banks.

Liquidity  

By the end of the month to Oct. 22, money supply exceeded 14 quadrillion rials ($334.84 billion), up by 23.3% YOY, according to the CBI data.

The volume of monetary base and money in circulation grew by 24.8% and 13% respectively compared with the previous year.

The data also show that the government owes banks almost 1.8 quadrillion rials ($43.05 billion), suggesting a 28.7% growth compared to the same period of last year. Private business arrears to the banking system neared 10 quadrillion rials ($239.17 billion) by Oct. 22, marking an annual growth of 17%.