TEHRAN– The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) would restore its services to Iranian financial institutions by January 31, said Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Governor Valiollah Seif.

Seif said there are only some technical issues to be resolved before SWIFT system comes on stream on January 31.

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.”

For Iran to resume business with the global banking world - for the first time since 2012 - its banks need to be linked to overseas lenders on SWIFT.

SWIFT lifted bans on the Iranian banks as the implementation day of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) formally started on January 16. 

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.

SJ/MA/