The Central Bank of Iran on Sunday announced regulations for remote identification of customers seeking electronic banking and financial services.
Banks, credit institutions and leasing companies can offer routine services remotely via the internet. Opening bank accounts, providing payment gateways and tools, granting small loans and issuing guarantees are among services that can be offered remotely.
Remote provision of banking services has gained traction in recently, especially in the past two years when after banks were instructed to expand e-services to curb the physical presence of clients due to restrictions to control the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
Innovative services and CBI's permission for establishment of neobanks are also welcomed by banks and their customers. It is reported that thousands of Iranians have installed neobank applications and have opened bank accounts without going to the bank.
Lenders must follow all the current regulations related to the opening of bank accounts for non-Iranians, including anti-money laundering and financing terrorism rules.
Financial institutions are required to prepare tools needed for submitting identification documents by customers. Iranians are required to provide ID details when seeking financial services for the first time, including name, family name, date of birth, ID number, father's name, zip code, address and phone number.
Foreigners are required to provide more details, including their nationality, the country of birth, exclusive code, type of ID document as well as its number, date of issuance, date of expiry, domicile status, zip code of their residency, date of entry and phone number.
People from Arab countries are also required to provide the name of their grandfather to the banks.
Banks must start validating the information submitted by applicants using national systems and databases, such as NAHAB.
NAHAB, a key platform developed by the CBI, generates a special code for Iranians, legal entities and foreigners residing in the country. The code is for easing access to customer IDs.
Financial institutions must ensure that the phone number(s) are owned by the applicants and are active. Besides, lenders should use at least one more factor for validating the ID of applicants, such as video identification or e-signature.
Video identification is a process of legitimation and verification of identity in which a person confirms with complete guarantee that he is who is meant to be through a video.
The CBI has obliged banks to make use of artificial intelligence for developing proper mechanism to verify the authenticity of video IDs.
Financial institutions are legally responsible for the security of e-platforms, the CBI stressed. "All the information transferred in the process of remote identifications must be fully encrypted and stored in databases owned by banks."
Since 2020 the CBI has regularly announced rules to increase scrutiny of banks and their transactions. This, among other things, is to ensure anti-money laundering measures, curb tax evasion and curtail speculation in financial markets, namely gold and foreign exchange.
