Iran Humanitarian Trade Hangs in Balance Over SWIFT Uncertainty

As the interbank messaging system SWIFT prepares to formally announce the names of Iranian banks that will be disconnected from its platform, it is not clear how the outside world intends to maintain humanitarian trade with Iran. 
SWIFT chief executive Gottfried Leibbrandt said Friday that the Belgium-based financial messaging service will be disconnecting some Iranian banks at the weekend. 
Earlier in the week SWIFT had stated that it would be suspending some unspecified Iranian banks’ access to its messaging system “in the interest of the stability and integrity of the global financial system” but had not mentioned any links to the reimposition of US sanctions on Monday. 
Hossein Salimi, deputy chief of Money and Capital Markets Commission at Tehran Chamber of Commerce told the Financial Tribune that the SWIFT (the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) list of banned Iranian banks could be disclosed either on Saturday or Sunday, local bankers have no idea which banks might be left off the hook.