Bank Tejarat (

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

: بانک تجارت, ''Bānk-e Tejārat'', ) is a significant bank in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

, headquartered in

Tehran Tehran (; , ''Tehrân'') is the capital and largest city of Iran. It is the capital of Tehran province, and the administrative center for Tehran County and its Central District (Tehran County), Central District. With a population of around 9. ...

. It was formed in 1979 by merger of several institutions including Bank Bazargani, itself the domestic successor of the

Imperial Bank of Persia The Imperial Bank of Persia () was a British bank that operated as the central bank and bank of issue in Iran (formerly known as Name of Iran, Persia until 1935) between 1889 and 1929. It was established in 1885 with a concession from the Persian ...

since 1952.

History

Iran's Banks Nationalization Act was approved in 1979. Bank Tejarat (which means Mercantile or Commerce Bank in Persian) was subsequently established to integrate Bank Bazargani together with five domestic commercial banks and six previous multi-nationality banks which were active in international and domestic fields.:: Tejaratbank-Home ::
Tejaratbank.ir. Retrieved on March 13, 2011. In 2009 the bank was partially

privatized Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

, with the Iranian state remaining as a minority shareholder. In January 2014, the

European General Court The General Court, informally known as the European General Court (EGC), is a constituent court of the Court of Justice of the European Union. It hears actions taken against the institutions of the European Union by individuals and member stat ...

in Luxembourg ruled to annul the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

(EU) sanctions in place since 2012 against the bank on grounds of supporting the

Iranian nuclear program The nuclear program of Iran is one of the most scrutinized nuclear programs in the world. The military capabilities of the program are possible through its mass enrichment activities in facilities such as Natanz and Arak. In June 2025, t ...

as there was inadequate evidence supporting the claim. Sanctions will remain in place giving time for the EU to appeal the decision, or to re-impose sanctions on different legal grounds. In April 2015 sanctions were re-imposed on new legal grounds. All sanctions were lifted after the Iran's deal with the six world powers on the nuclear program resulted in the

embargo Economic sanctions or embargoes are commercial and financial penalties applied by states or institutions against states, groups, or individuals. Economic sanctions are a form of coercion that attempts to get an actor to change its behavior throu ...

being lifted.

International branches

Tejarat Bank has six branches in other countries.

Subsidiary companies

Tejarat Bank is one of the main shareholders of Kardan Investment Bank alongside

Saman Bank Saman Bank (, ''Bank Saman'') is a privately owned Iranian bank. It is listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. In 2024, Saman Bank was hit by a cyberattack from IRLeaks, which affected 20 of Iran's 29 banks, including the Central Bank of Iran. Pol ...

and

Middle East Bank Middle East Bank (MEB; ) is an Iranian bank headquartered in Tehran. The bank was founded in 2012. MEB is owned by small private shareholders. They focus on the humanitarian trade with Iran. On 8 October 2020 OFAC (U.S. Department of the Treasu ...

which was founded in 2014.

Cooperation with UNICEF

For the first time in 2018, Tejarat Bank has signed a memorandum of cooperation with

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

to improve the health, nutrition, education, care and overall well-being of children in Iran. and extended this cooperation again in August 2023.

World Digital Trade Organization membership

Tejarat Bank became the first Iranian bank to become an official member of the World Digital Trade Organization, with the aim of playing a role in facilitating monetary and banking transactions for merchants and economic activists.

References

External links

www.cibafi.org

www.zawya.com
{{Authority control Banks of Iran Banks established in 1979 Companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange Companies in the TSE TEFIX-30 Iranian companies established in 1979 Companies based in Tehran