The arduous path to independence in monetary decision-making from the government that many central banks have gone through remains the road not taken for Iran. But the new Iranian year, which began March 21, holds promise to prove the turning point bestowing the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) with its long overdue independence while also having the potential to yank the banking system out of its current state of limbo.

As President Hassan Rouhani vowed shortly after his second swearing-in ceremony last August following a landslide victory, his administration aims to become the first to instill fundamental banking reforms since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

The previous government and parliament tried their hands but fell short with lackluster reform measures consigned to memory at a time when the country was hit with nuclear-related sanctions.

The Rouhani administration extensively reviewed and made changes to previous reform measures and devised what has been commonly referred to as the "twin bank reform bills" — one for bank reform and one for CBI reform. These were supposed to be presented to lawmakers about two years ago, but as the government kept procrastinating, parliament members came up with their own reform plan and tried to push it through. The latter effort was spearheaded by conservative cleric and two-time parliament member Mohammad Hossein Hosseinzadeh Bahraini and the Parliament Research Center.