23 April 2015
During the IMF-WB 2015 spring meetings, Dr. Seif, The governor of CBI, attended a luncheon hosted by Mr. Masood Ahmed; head of IMF’S Middle East and Central Asia Department, and with the presence of central bank governors from other member countries.
In this meeting, Mr. Masood Ahmed reviewed some banking issues regarding regulatory standards as well as economic and trade embargoes.
Some issues such as Implementation of US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FACTA), Anti Money Laundering and Combating Financing Terrorism (AML/CFT) and compliance with regulation of the US treasury which has created some risks for banks in their international transactions particularly while using US Dollar were considered in his speech. These issues have raised concerns for the banks given their role in global trade.
Dr. Seif also gave a speech in this meeting. He agreed with the statement of Mr. Masood Ahmed and expressed “Islamic Republic of Iran Iran, which was enjoying extensive presence and engagement of global banks in various financial and commercial interactions, has confronted this problem much earlier than countries in our region. The current situation once again underscores the need for our own banks to be more engaged with one another, and our central banks and supervisory cooperation accordingly. Given the positive experience of SWAP lines in other countries, one can argue in favor of exploring the establishment of appropriate SWAP lines between the central banks of the region. We also encourage the possibility of participation of countries in regionally established development banks.”