Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei instructed the armed forces and security institutions in January to divest from economic activities non-related to their core missions. Consequently, among other steps, plans were devised to merge the six lenders owned by the latter entities and their respective cooperatives and pension funds. The original plan was to merge the six lenders into two banks and then later merge these entities into a single bank. So far, only one of the smaller lenders — credit and finance institute Samen-al-Hojaj, which went bankrupt in 2015 — has been merged into the larger Ansar Bank. All other mergers seem to have been delayed. Meanwhile, reports have emerged that plans have been altered and that the remaining five lenders will be merged into state-owned Bank Sepah. This prospect raises important questions about the envisioned path forward, including its implications for the various interest groups in Iran.
At present, there are five lenders that are owned by military and security organizations: Ansar Bank is owned by a web of companies belonging to Bonyad Taavon Sepah (BTS, or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Cooperative Foundation); Bank Hekmat Iranian is wholly owned by the army; Bank Ghavamin is wholly owned by NAJA Cooperative Foundation (the cooperative of the Law Enforcement Force); and Mehr Eghtesad Bank is owned by the Basij, the paramilitary organization affiliated with the IRGC. Lastly, Kosar — a credit and financial institution as opposed to a fully licensed bank — belongs to the Cooperative Foundation of the Ministry of Defense.
