Lebanon’s central bank revokes Bank Saderat Iran’s license — Asharq Al-Awsat

Lebanon’s central bank has revoked the local license of Bank Saderat Iran, one of Iran’s largest banks. In Lebanon, the institution did not operate as a full-fledged commercial bank serving a broad range of clients, and its activities were mainly limited to individual transfers and financial operations linked to certain networks or structures.

Protecting the banking sector

Banque du Liban Governor Karim Souaid told Bloomberg that the decision was made this week to demonstrate Lebanon’s intention to protect the banking sector from institutions that may create financial and regulatory risks. This was reported by Asharq Al-Awsat.

According to Souaid, the move came amid tighter restrictions on Iran’s financial system by central banks in other countries in the region and growing pressure from the United States. He noted that the United Arab Emirates and Türkiye had also complied with similar requirements to preserve their banks’ ties with the international financial system.

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Sanctions against Iranian institutions have effectively isolated Bank Saderat from major international banking messaging networks, including SWIFT, and global payment systems. The U.S. Treasury Department had previously considered the bank a possible financial channel for regional groups, including Hezbollah.

Negotiations with the IMF

Souaid also stressed the need to remove Lebanon from the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering, FATF, where the country was placed due to shortcomings in combating illicit financial flows. According to him, the central bank hired a specialized U.S. company to examine Lebanon’s cash economy and identify suspicious financial activity.

Lebanon is negotiating with the International Monetary Fund over a potential loan to restore the economy after the financial collapse and a default on international bonds worth about $30 billion in 2020. The central bank governor called cleaning up the financial sector an important component of these talks, although such measures are not a formal condition of a possible IMF support program.