Iran's Bank Sepah denies credit ban by Germany
Iran’s Bank Sepah has dismissed a report that it had been slapped with sanctions by the German government for allegedly violating the country’s credit law.
Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post had claimed on Friday that Germany's Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) had announced a credit ban imposed on Iran's Bank Sepah.
"Bank Sepah's connection with Germany has been expanding with the consent of the country's authorities, and more than 52 million euros of foreign currency transfers were made at the branch only yesterday," Amir Hosseini, the head of the bank's directorate general of international affairs, said on Saturday.
Bank Sepah has European branches in Frankfurt, Paris, Rome, and London, with Hosseini saying the German branch has provided some $607 million in various types of credit and currency services so far.
"Bank Sepah has a very good interaction with the authorities of German state banks so much so that they have chosen an Iranian as the head of the branch," he added.
According to the official, the German branch of Bank Sepah is currently connected to both Europe's TARGET2 payment system and its Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA).
TARGET2 enables EU banks to transfer money between each other in real time. SEPA is a payment-integration initiative of the European Union for simplification of bank transfers denominated in euro.
The Jerusalem Post, citing BaFin spokeswoman Sabine Reimer, had claimed that "a credit ban against Bank Sepah's branch in Frankfurt was imposed because the institution violated the requirements of the rules of a business organization according to paragraph 25a of the lending law."
Reimer would not not provide additional information, only saying the ban on credit went into effect on October 13, according to the paper.
The US and EU had previously sanctioned Bank Sepah, accusing it of having a role in Iran's missile program, but they had to lift the ban in 2016 after failing to produce any evidence against the institution.
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