Iranian Rial

screwball · April 9, 2017

The first draft of banking collaboration between the central banks of Iran and Malaysia has been finalized and will be signed by the governors of the two banks.

CBI Vice Governor Akbar Komijani met with his Malaysian counterpart in Kuala Lumpur on the sidelines of the 30th meeting of the council of the Islamic Financial Services Board which he chaired, the official news website of CBI reported.

“There are significant economic and trade potentials to expand ties between our two countries and establishment of banking relations is one of the main factors for facilitating this goal,” he said.

Komijani noted that a number of Iranian banks are looking to resume operations in Malaysia following the removal of sanctions as a result of the nuclear accord, but that requires the Malaysian authorities to process their requests effectively and rapidly.

Malaysian central bank deputy governor, Encik Abdul Rasheed, welcomed the prospects of improving the level of bilateral banking cooperation, saying Iranian banks will certainly have more room to operate in Malaysia following the signing of the agreement between their central banks.

Komijani also invited Abdul Rasheed to visit Iran for further talks in the future.

screwball · April 9, 2017

Tehran, Kuala Lumpur draft banking coop. agreement

News ID: 3948132 - Sun 9 April 2017 - 09:16

Economy

TEHRAN, Apr. 09 (MNA) – On the sidelines of ISBF annual meetings in Kuala Lumpur, central banks of Iran and Malaysia agreed to bolster bilateral banking relations.

The Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) Annual Meetings and Side Events 2017 was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on April 04-06, co-hosted by the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran and Bank Negara Malaysia. Dr. Valiollah Seif, Governor of Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran was the Chairperson of the IFSB for 2017.

The meetings brought together the key stakeholders of the Islamic financial services industry which include regulatory and supervisory authorities, industry and market players, multilateral organizations, academics, Islamic finance practitioners and members of the public.

In its 30th Meeting, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia today, the Council of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) resolved to approve the Guiding Principles on Disclosure Requirements for Islamic Capital Market Products (Sukūk and Islamic Collective Investment Schemes) (IFSB-19).

The Council of the Islamic Financial Services Board (IFSB) has today resolved to approve the admission of one organization into the IFSB membership, an industry association as an Observer Member. The newly admitted Observer member is the Association for Development of Islamic Finance (ADIF), Kazakhstan.

IFSB also announced the retirement of its Secretary-General, Mr Jaseem Ahmed, effective 14 April 2017, after a six-year term at the helm of the international standard-setting organizations for the Islamic financial services industry.

The Council of the IFSB in its 30th meeting on 6 April 2017, held in Kuala Lumpur, launched measures for the appointment of a new Secretary-General, while appointing the Assistant Secretary-General (Technical & Research) Mr. Zahid ur Rehman Khokher as the Acting Secretary-General of the IFSB effective 15 April 2017.

Also on the sidelines of IFSB meetings, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Akbar Komeijani met and talked with his Malaysian counterpart Encik Shaik Abdul Rasheed. Draft of an MoU for banking cooperation between the two sides was finalized during the session and will be inked by governors of Iranian and Malaysian central banks.

Iran’s Komeijani, while appreciating satisfactory cooperation of the Central Bank of Malaysia in hosting the IFSB annual meeting and its upcoming summit to be held in December 2017, said “considerable economic and trade capacities exist for expansion of ties between the two countries though banking relations can facilitate the process.”

The official pointed to eagerness of some Iranian banks to make presence in Malaysia following removal of international sanctions against the country stating “presence of Iranian banks in the Southeast Asian country requires following up their requests.”

“Draft of a cooperation agreements for banking ties between has become finalized between Iran and Malaysia and will be signed by governors of their central banks in the near future,” he concluded.

screwball · April 10, 2017

The first passenger jet Iran has ordered from American planemaker Boeing will join Iran’s air fleet within a month, Deputy Roads and Urban Development Minister Asghar Fakhrieh-Kashan said noting that that the plane was initially ordered by Turkish Airlines that later cancelled the order.

“After Turkish Airlines cancelled the purchase, Boeing suggested it can deliver the plane to Iran sooner than the first official delivery,” the deputy minister explained, “Iran Air is currently studying the plane’s specifications and that the airline will opt to receive the jet if it is compatible with Iran’s climatic conditions as well as its technical needs.”

“If the plane’s options agree with the needs and preferences of Iran Air, it will be delivered within a month; in case we require additional options in the plane’s interior such as the galley or the number of seats, the delivery will be postponed by another month,” the deputy minister was quoted as saying by Mehr News Agency.

After lengthy negotiations following the nuclear deal Iran clinched in 2015 with world powers, Boeing secured a contract in December with Iran Air for the sale of 80 planes—the first such transaction in decades.

Under Boeing’s agreement with Iran’s flag carrier, the American planemaker had committed to delivering the first plane by 2018.

“It is very strange that Turkish Airlines would cancel an order so late in the build process when they had already paid millions in pre-delivery payments and this comes just days after the airline accepted the delivery of a new, lease Airbus A330 from Intrepid Aviation,” Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at StrategicAero Research, told Financial Tribune.

He added that the cancellation of the Turkish 777-300ER raises more questions than it answers.

“The airplane may be put into long-term storage if Iran Air cannot arrange financing; Boeing will have little trouble selling this airplane to someone like Emirates or another leasing giant and is thus not obliged to ‘hold’ it for Iran Air,” he said.

Iran Air has received three planes it ordered from Airbus based on an agreement concluded in tandem with the Boeing deal. All the deliveries have been cancelled orders so far.

“It’s not surprising that airlines cancel orders. The terms are usually confidential so no two cancellations will be the same. It’s also difficult to say how many more possible cancellations are in the pipeline since even deferrals or airplanes are at record lows,” he said.

The Boeing deal is worth $16.6 billion based on list prices, but Iran is expected to pay half this price.

The order includes 50 of Boeing’s narrow-body 737max 8s, 15 wide-body 777-300ERs and 15 777-9s, which will be delivered to Iran Air over 10 years.

It is still unclear how the deal will be financed, as big banks and major financial institutions are still hesitant to engage with Tehran despite the removal of nuclear sanction against Iran.

Both Airbus and Boeing have received licenses from the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control to sell aircraft to Iran Air. Airbus has agreed to sell a total of 100 planes to the flag carrier.

Earlier, Boeing signed a memorandum of agreement with Iran Aseman Airlines to supply 30 B737-Max passenger jets worth $3 billion based on catalogue prices with the option of adding 30 more in the future.

Aseman expects to finalize a contract in three to four months. Boeing has confirmed the deal in a statement, saying the deliveries would be scheduled to start in 2022.

screwball · April 10, 2017

According to the latest data released by the Central Bank of Iran for the month ending February 18, government deposits with CBI reached 412 trillion rials ($11 billion) and registered an 11.3% and 20.7% increase on a monthly and year-on-year comparison, respectively.

This could be a result of the government's plan to move all its accounts from state-owned and private banks to CBI.

Figures also show that banks were keeping 1.289 quadrillion rials ($34.5 billion) with CBI in reserve requirement. The amount grew by 22.1% compared with the previous year's 1,064.1 trillion rials.

Private banks and non-bank credit institutions accounted for the biggest share of reserve requirements at 972.5 trillion rials ($26 billion). These institutions accounted for 75.5% of the total figure, showing a growth of 22.3% compared with the previous year.

The three commercial state-owned banks experienced a 29.7% surge in their reserve requirement year-on-year to reach 241.8 trillion rials ($6.5 billion), accounting for 18.75% of the total amount. The smallest share of reserve requirements go to five specialized banks also owned by the government at 5.75%.

The Iranian private sector's deposits in banks and non-bank financial institutions reached 11.79 quadrillion rials ($315 billion) by February 18, marking a 24.6% growth year-on-year.

Private lenders accounted for 71.5% of the savings to reach 8.4 quadrillion rials ($225 billion) and register a 23.1% growth compared with the same period of last year.

Commercial state-owned banks with 2.2 quadrillion rials ($59 billion) and specialized banks with 1.1 quadrillion rials ($30.7 billion) accounted for 18.7% and 9.8% of the total savings, respectively.

The report indicates that the private sector's debts to banks sharply grew by 25.6% during the period compared with the correspondent period of last year to exceed 8 quadrillion rials ($215 billion). Specialized and commercial banks accounted for 20.3% and 15.4% of the total debts, respectively.

screwball · April 10, 2017

Economy, Business And Markets

Monday, April 10, 2017

Capital Increase Deadline for Insurers

Beleaguered insurance companies have only until the end of the current fiscal year (March 20, 2018) to meet the new minimum capital requirements set by the Cabinet, announced the head of the Central Insurance of Iran.”We did what we could to reduce the capital requirement of insurance companies and the companies in need of capital increase have only 11 months left. If they fail to comply, they must consider merging or reducing the scope of their work,” Abdolnasser Hemmati was quoted as saying by Banker.ir. Based on the lowered minimum capital requirements approved by the government in mid-February, the license of general insurance firms will be granted to entities with an initial capital asset of 1.5 trillion rials ($40 million) and reinsurance firms will require an initial capital of 2.5 trillion rials ($66.6 million).

screwball · April 10, 2017

The Iranian banking system will focus on increasing production and improving employment in the current fiscal year in line with the guidelines provided by the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei.

In light of the fact that this year has been named after Resistance Economy: Production and Employment, Central Bank of Iran Governor Valiollah Seif said, “We hope that with the cooperation of the banking system, we can realize the set targets,” the official website of CBI reported.

Seif, who was meeting with the chief executives and board members of banks and credit institutions, referred to the performance of the banking system in allocating loans to small- and medium-sized enterprises as positive.

“In line with this goal, provincial task forces were formed to remove obstacles to production and by the end of the previous year, more than 170 trillion rials ($4.53 billion) were allocated to about 24,000 SMEs,” he said, adding that the banking system must maintain its supportive approach toward these businesses.

Backing the ailing SMEs was one of the main priorities of the central bank during the previous year, with 160 trillion rials ($4.26 billion) earmarked for them from the beginning of the year. The bank succeeded to surpass that target.

The CBI governor, who also heads the Money and Credit Council, pointed out that some people mistake this total number as the only loans allocated to the production sector.

“This is while during the first 11 months of the previous year (March 20, 2016-February 18, 2017), the banking system doled out over 4.77 quadrillion rials ($127.2 billion) to different economic sectors, about 64% of which were allocated to meet working capital demands in manufacturing units,” he said.

According to Seif, reforming the lack of balance in the ratio of incomes to expenses and assets to debts is one of the most important changes that must be made.

Noting that the upcoming presidential elections on May 19 make this a very critical year for the country’s banking system and economy, he added that implementing the reforms requires total discipline and unity among CEOs, board members and shareholders of banks.

Seif also spoke of the central bank’s new oversight plan for the banking system, saying it is ready to become operational.

The plan will set the grounds for a more effective and less costly oversight, but “the main part of it must be made operational with the cooperation of the banks”, he added.

screwball · April 10, 2017

5 (5916545) | Date: 09/04/2017 | Time: 20:49|

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Source: Boeing to deliver 2 passenger planes in 1 month

Tehran, April, IRNA – An informed source disclosed that the US giant aviation company Boeing will deliver two Boeing 777 jumbo passenger jets to Iran within next month.

Speaking to IRNA on Sunday, the informed source said that the two 777 Boeing passenger planes will be delivered to the national flag carrier Iran Air.

The source noted that the Turkish Airlines was supposed to purchase the two 777 planes, but it refrained from doing so.

The Boeing 777 passenger plane is a two-engine wide-body aircraft and is suitable for long-distance journey of over 17,000 kilometers.

“Since 30 out of 80 passenger planes purchased from Boeing are 777 model, the giant aviation company has announced that it will deliver two of the same model to Iran,” the source added.

He noted that 15 of the 777 model will be 350-seated and the remaining 15 will be 390-seated aircraft.

2050**2050

screwball · April 10, 2017