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Iran’s central bank tightens grip on national payment system

Iran’s central bank is increasingly closing loopholes in the country’s payment system that allowed for destabilization of the monetary and foreign currency markets.
EDITORS' NOTE: Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on leaving the office to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.

A money changer holds Iranian rial banknotes as he waits for customers in Tehran's business district January 7, 2012. REUTERS/Raheb Homavandi  (IRAN - Tags: BUSINESS) - GM1E8171GCD01

It is becoming increasingly vital in Iran, with its economy squeezed by US sanctions, to strike a semblance of financial stability. With that in mind, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has in recent months started implementing a series of measures in the country’s payment systems to better manage the monetary and foreign currency markets.

The new measures, which reportedly take aim at both card-present and card-not-present transactions, are hoped to increase transparency, combat money laundering and fraud, and strengthen the national currency. They are being realized under CBI Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati.

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