INTERNATIONAL JOINT BANKS OF IRAN, A LEGAL REPORT
International Joint Banks of Iran, 5th Bi-Monthly N & A (January 29, 2015) According to wantchinatimes.com on January 28, 2015:
Iran and Russia are mulling a joint bank to settle their mutual trade payments, said Iran’s ambassador Tuesday on Press TV.
“Both sides plan to create a mutual bank or a mutual account to make payments in (Iranian) rials and (Russian) rubles,” ambassador Mehdi Sanaei said.
Sanaei’s remarks came two days after Gholamali Kamyab, the deputy governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), announced Iran’s plans to sign “bilateral monetary treaties” with some countries.
Iran is not using the dollar “in its transactions with different countries,” Gholamali Kamyab said, adding that “Iran is using other currencies like China’s renminbi, Turkey’s lira, Russia’s ruble and South Korea’s won in its trade transactions with the countries.”
On October 13, 2014, the website of globalresearch.ca had already reported that:
Head of the Iran-Russia Joint Chamber of Commerce Asadollah Asgaroladi said that Tehran and Moscow are studying the possibilities of opening a new chapter in trade relations that could break the domination of Western currencies over bilateral exchanges.
―Since Russian banks fear the implications of working with Iran due to sanctions, we want to establish the joint Iran-Russia bank with the help of our central banks and private sectors,‖ Asgaroladi said.
―Such a bank would be able to exchange money between the two sides using rials and rubles and put aside dollars, euros and pounds,‖ he added.
Unilateral sanctions imposed on Iran’s banking sector by the US and the European Union over Tehran’s nuclear energy program and the recent Western bans against Russia over Ukraine have prompted the two countries’ trade officials to boost economic cooperation.
In this first bi-monthly report of 2015, we will analyse the following issues:
1) What is the role of international joint banks of Iran, especially in the context of banking sanctions imposed on the country?
2) Would this role be and remain limited to using currencies other than Dollar, Pound and Euro in international transactions of Iran with its trade partners?
3) What would be the role of bilateral monetary treaties that Iran is going to sign with Russia, China and probably India?
4) What is the legal basis of this new development?