The US-based multinational financial services corporation MasterCard has rejected recent reports about its cooperation with Iran.
MasterCard Spokesman Seth Eisen told Trend on August 15 that the company has no activity in Iran.
“MasterCard does not have any activities in Iran, as sanctions have remained in place for US-based companies for some time,” Eisen explained.
Earlier, media outlets quoted Iran’s Communications and Information Technology Minister Mahmoud Vaezi as saying that Iran’s Post Company has signed a deal with a foreign firm to offer MasterCard services to Iranians.
“The company reportedly signed a deal with Vision Card Iranian, a company representing MasterCard in Iran, under the framework of international trade rules,” Vaezi said, adding that Iranians’ problem with international payments has been resolved, as they can now contact Iran’s Post Company and receive their international MasterCard.
Vaezi further said the opportunity is a result of the nuclear deal, which led to the removal of sanctions against Iran last January.
Last March, it was announced that the Central Bank of Iran adopted a policy of holding regular talks with Visa and MasterCard to have their services in the country.
Iranian officials had already said the country is preparing the ground for the people to use credit cards provided by Asian banks until the restrictions for using the international electronic payment operators, like Visa and MasterCard, are removed.
Earlier, in February, Iyzico–a Turkish credit card company–signed a deal with Iran enabling its customers to process transactions from some 230 million payment cards, which until recently were not connected to any financial system outside Iran.
The Turkish company signed the deal to enter Iran after restrictions, excluding the country from the SWIFT banking system, were removed following the implementation of the nuclear deal.
