TEHRAN — The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) has restored its services to 9 Iranian banks, said Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Governor Valiollah Seif. 

“I have been informed that the problem regarding the 9 banks have been resolved and they will be reconnected to SWIFT this evening,” the Fars news agency quoted Seif as saying on Sunday.

He said, “During the period that west-engineered sanctions were imposed on Iran, SWIFT had not stopped its services to Iran completely, and only some banks had been blocked.”

Melli Bank, Tejarat Bank, Mellat Bank, Sepah Bank, Bank of Industry and Mine, Post Bank, Export Development Bank, Refah Kargaran Bank, and the Central Bank will rejoin SWIFT, the report added.
Of course, reinstalling the related software may take one or two days, but the whole process will be completed by the weekend, Seif noted.

SWIFT is a global supplier of secure messaging services and interface software to wholesale financial entities. It is a secure private network used by nearly every bank around the world to send payment messages that lead to the transfer of money across international borders. 

In early 2012, SWIFT said it had been instructed by the European Council to discontinue its communications services to Iranian financial institutions that are subject to European sanctions. Accordingly, it blocked 30 Iranian banks from using its service thus literally cutting off Iran from the global banking system.