TEHRAN, Iran — On July 24, Valiollah Seif, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), unveiled the Central Bank and Usury-Free Banking Reform Bill, also known as the Banking Reform Bill, to support sustained acceleration in economic growth and broad expansion of the private sector, which is currently suffering from a credit crunch in the Iranian financial system. If approved by the government, the bill will then be sent to parliament.
Iran's current banking laws are decades old and have never been comprehensively reviewed by any administration subsequent to the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Indeed, Seif said, the Central Bank Law was last revised in 1983 and before that in 1972. Under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-13), some efforts were made to begin revising the laws and regulations governing the sector — under the framework of the government’s broader Economic Development Plan — but nothing really became of it.