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SWIFT in talks to revive services to Iran

Reports say SWIFT has started talks with Iran's private banks to restart its services to the country.

Iran’s media are reporting that SWIFT – a company that provide a global electronic banking system - has started talks with Iranian banks to restart its services to the country.

A report by Tabnak news agency says this comes in light of a gradual thaw in Iran’s banking transactions with the world introduced by developments in the country’s nuclear case, especially after the country was allowed to have access to its frozen funds by virtue of the Geneva deal in 2013. 

Based on the Geneva deal or the Joint Plan of Action reached between Iran and P5+1 in November 2013, Iran agreed to certain limitations on its nuclear energy activities in return for the removal of some economic sanctions.  A key area of economic sanctions easing for Iran was paying billions of dollars of the country’s assets that had been frozen due to sanctions in overseas banks in separate installments.     

The Tabnak report has added that SWIFT has already held a series of “official and unofficial meetings” with Iran’s private banks over the resumption of its services to the country. However, it has not provided any further details over this.    

The Belgium-based Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, or SWIFT, is a global supplier of secure messaging services and interface software to wholesale financial entities. It is a secure private network used by nearly every bank around the world to send payment messages that lead to the transfer of money across international borders.

In early 2012, SWIFT said it had been instructed by the European Council to discontinue its communications services to Iranian financial institutions that are subject to European sanctions. Accordingly, it blocked 30 Iranian banks from using its service thus literally cutting off Iran from the global banking system. 

The decision also hurt ordinary Iranians because SWIFT facilitates minor money transfers, as well. Therefore, many Iranians were no longer able to send money abroad or return any amount due to the same problem.

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