Bank Sepah ( fa, بانک سپه, ''Bānke Sepah''), the first
Iranian bank, was established in 1925 (corresponding to 1304 in the
Iranian Calendar). Its first branch, in
Tehran, opened that year.
The bank also has branches in
Frankfurt,
Paris and
Rome as well as a subsidiary, Bank Sepah International plc, in
London. Sepah Bank has recently merged 4 other Iranian banks and 1 Credit
Institution named: ''Ansar Bank, Mehr Eghtesad Bank, Hekmat Iranian Bank,
Ghavamin Bank
Ghavamin Bank (Persian: بانک قوامین), ''Bank Qavâmin'', was an Iranian financial and credit institution established in 2000.
Ghavamin Bank is the first bank in the country with the aim of helping to enhance the living quality and finan ...
and Kosar Credit Institution''.
History
Bank Sepah was officially founded on May 4, 1925, with its first branch in Sepah st. in
Tehran. Initially, an investment of 3,883,950 Iranian Rials was made from the military ranked personnel pension fund and the bank was set to exclusively provide military personnel with financial aids such as loans. With further increase in their domain of services, the headquarters for the bank was moved to a larger building in Homayoon st. Starting on March 15, 1926, with opening of another branch in
Rasht, Bank Sepah began providing services not only to the military personnel but to the more general public such as businessmen.
Sepah migrated to core banking solution.
US, UN sanctions
Sanctions
A sanction may be either a permission or a restriction, depending upon context, as the word is an auto-antonym.
Examples of sanctions include:
Government and law
* Sanctions (law), penalties imposed by courts
* Economic sanctions, typically a b ...
were imposed on Bank Sepah by the
United States on January 9, 2007, due to Iran's suspected
nuclear weapons program. The United States claimed that the bank assisted Iran in developing missiles that could carry nuclear weapons.
[http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/politics/16420611.htm ] and all its branches and subsidiaries in
Italy,
UK,
France and
Germany will have their assets frozen by the United States in order to prevent Iran from constructing nuclear weapons.
The official website
of Bank Sepah in Iran reacted by mentioning the American resolution "fabricated statements based on purely hypothetical pretext, made out of political inducements" and promised that the bank will "continue with its efficient performance with due observance of internal and international regulations as before."
On the same basis, further sanctions have also been imposed by the United Nations through
Resolution 1747 of 29 March 2007 coinciding with the arrest by the Iranian Government of some British army personnel in the Persian Gulf.
In early 2016, following the talks of
P5+1 with Iran on the
Nuclear program of Iran
The nuclear program of Iran is an ongoing scientific effort by Iran to research nuclear technology that can be used to make nuclear weapons. Iran has several research sites, two uranium mines, a research reactor, and uranium processing facilit ...
, and the resultant
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA; fa, برنامه جامع اقدام مشترک , barnāmeye jāme'e eqdāme moshtarak (, ''BARJAM'')), commonly known as the Iran nuclear deal or Iran deal, is an agreement on the Iranian nuclear ...
, sanctions against Bank Sepah were lifted.
Bank Sepah Coin Museum
Bank Sepah Coin Museum was established in 1963 and features a collection reflecting the periods of Iranian history dating back to over 2,500 years ago. The museum is also of international significance given the multiethnic nature of the Iranian ruling elites over time.
See also
*
Banking and Insurance in Iran
Following the Iranian Revolution, Iran's banking system was transformed to be run on an Islamic interest-free basis. As of 2010 there were seven large government-run commercial banks. As of March 2014, Iran's banking assets made up over a third o ...
References
External links
Banks of Iran
Banks established in 1925
Iranian entities subject to the U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions
{{Iran-stub