Exchangers Urged to Quit Banking Operations

The Central bank of Iran is determined to navigate moneychangers back to their original activities and leave banking operations to banks, said the head of the Department for Banking Supervision at CBI.

"For a period of time, due to certain reasons, we had to transfer money overseas through the money exchange houses but now our banking system is back to a reliable point. As the governor of CBI emphasized, exchangers should put an end to their banking activities so the banks are able to reclaim their role in the market," Abbas Kamarei was also quoted as saying by IBENA.

Addressing moneychangers' concerns that pushing them out of banking activities would weaken their position, he said, "There was a time when policymakers deemed it right to delegate some important tasks to exchangers and we witnessed the positive and negative outcomes. Now the policymaker has decided another way to handle things and it is not acceptable for moneychangers to complain."

The official said if moneychangers believe their market is not lucrative enough, they could quit.

"The most important thing for Iran's economy is transparency since when it's lacking, some benefit and more lose," he added.

Kamarei said there have been a number of exchangers that did not abide by the rules last year and as a result faced punishments, leading to the closure of 10-12 of them.

Back in July, the banking system got the thumps-up from CBI to trade in foreign currencies at the open market rate.

The Central Bank of Iran recently invited businesses to procure their currency requirements from the banking system at market rates. The proposal was received well and is deemed a prelude to the longstanding plan to unify the dual exchange rate regime in the Iranian market.