Ayadegh, one of the country’s largest private banks, was declared bankrupt by the state and its assets transferred, an unusual move despite international sanctions hitting the country’s economy, state media reported today.
Founded in 2012, Ayadeh Bank (“future” in Persian) had a network of 270 branches across the country, 150 of which were in the capital Tehran.
The financial institution faced loans and accumulated losses of 5,400 trillion riyals (about 4.5 billion euros) and 3,110 trillion riyals. riyals (about 2.5 billion euros) in unsecured loans, according to the Isna news agency.
As of today, the public bank Meli (“national” in Persian) absorbs the assets of Ayadeh, by decision of the Central Bank, The latter assured that all individuals could recover their loan transferred to Bank Meli.
“The transfer of Ayadeh Bank to Meli Bank is now complete,” said the latter’s director, Ambolfazi Nazarzadeh, on state television today.
“We are proud to welcome you to the big Meli Bank family,” the bank wrote to its new customers in an SMS message.
Today, many depositors were standing in line in front of a former branch of the Ayandeh Bank, reports an AFP journalist from Tehran, clarifying that there are police officers at the scene.
The customers of Ayadeh Bank “should not have any worries”, said yesterday, Thursday, Iranian Minister of Economy Ali Madanizadeh.
Ultra luxurious project
The newspaper Ham Mihan speaks of the “bankruptcy” of the Ayadeh Bank, which had no equity and had to resort to loans for cash.
An official of the Central Bank, Hamidreza Ghaniabadi, spoke of “questionable debt”.
“More than 90% of Ayadegh Bank’s money was allocated either to parties connected to the bank or to programs managed by the bank itself,” which were never repaid, he pointed out, according to the Irna news agency.
Ayadegh Bank had financed ultra-luxurious projects such as the massive Iran Mall shopping complex in Tehran, billed as the world’s largest and featuring a skating rink and cinemas.
Meli Bank is one of the largest public banking institutions in Iran along with Sepah Bank.
Since the 1990s, the banking sector in Iran has also been open to foreigners.
Besides Ayadeh, five other banks (Sharmageh, Dai, Sepah, Iran Zamin and Melal) are also in trouble, according to the Tasnim news agency.
