Iranian banks are trying to catch up with the rest of the world. After years of isolation left them with outdated practices, they are trying to fall in line with international standards of transparency so they can better attract business and integrate with the global industry.
The country’s central bank has instructed them to set up compliance departments and risk management programs, and to implement globally accepted accounting practices so the economy can take better advantage of the easing of international sanctions under last year’s nuclear deal.
The central bank “felt the need to address and resolve the issues our banks have,” Vice Governor Peyman Ghorbani said in an interview on the sidelines of the Frankfurt European Banking Congress. “Good steps have been taken.”
Businesses have said that the outmoded and opaque practices have created additional hurdles for foreign banks considering working with Iran after the nuclear accord.
Major European banks are still wary of resuming business ties with Iran over fears of running into remaining US sanctions that apply to nonnuclear activities.
Iranian officials have said the hesitation is holding up plans to help the economy, despite their country’s compliance with the accord.
Large foreign lenders are mostly hesitating over “the internal housekeeping of Iranian banks,” said Reza Soltanzadeh, board member of the Tehran-based Middle East Bank.
Policymakers have taken “very good measures” regarding capital adequacy ratios and anti-money laundering procedures, and banks are working hard to comply, he said.
A number of smaller lenders are being audited to “restore trust to the system, but this will take time for the larger banks,” Soltanzadeh said.
Iran has both an official exchange rate to the US dollar and another rate used in unregulated markets.
The implementation of the nuclear accord in January has energized plans to unify the exchange rates, but “long-term and sustainable unification” also needs good corresponding relationships with larger banks, Ghorbani said.
“We are taking steps and are not in a rush,” Ghorbani said. “We want to make sure that the preconditions are there.”
While Iran sees the involvement of large European banks as essential to reviving the economy, it has also expanded its corresponding relationships to 240 banks, including small and medium-size lenders, Ghorbani said.
As the central bank nudges lenders closer to international standards, the Iranian legislature is taking steps to strengthen the regulator’s independence and supervisory powers.
The measures — the Central Bank Act and the Banking Act — are to be submitted “soon” to the legislature, Ghorbani said.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”