New Fees for Money Transfer to Benefit Banks

The increase in bank fees approved earlier by the Central Bank of Iran has become effective. The CBI had first announced the directive in September 2016. The change is aimed at diversifying banks’ revenues and increase their non-interest incomes, IBENA reported. New bank charges have been implemented as of June 10, which could be received by banks. The fees are not fixed, but to encourage completion of the process, lenders are allowed to charge less by up to 30%. The measure has made money transfer more expensive through banks without using e-banking services, which hovers between 5,000 rials ($0.13) to 33,000 rials ($0.88) depending on the amount of cash transfer. The CBI has also raised fees for paying utility bills through bank branches by 200% from 6,500 rials ($0.17) to 20,000 rials ($0.53). E-banking services including money transfer through ATMs have remained unchanged since 2009 and have remained unaffected by the new measures.