The Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance, Ehsan Khandouzi, commended the management and staff of Bank Melli Iran (BMI) for their achievements in the Iranian calendar year 1402 (March 20, 2023 to March 20, 2024).

He emphasized that the privatization of Shazand Petrochemical, previously owned by BMI, represents the pinnacle of the bank's efforts to divest surplus assets. Khandouzi urged BMI to take significant steps in the current year to cease acquiring lands and properties and instead focus on selling companies.

A conference was held in Tehran to evaluate BMI's performance in 1402 and outline its plans for 1403. Attendees included Khandouzi, Abolfazl Najjarzadeh (CEO of BMI), Mohammad Javad Sharifzadeh (Deputy Minister of Banking, Insurance, and State Companies), Hassan Kiaei (Director General of Banking and Insurance Affairs), and members of BMI's board of directors and CEO.

In his address, Khandouzi acknowledged BMI's year of achievements and expressed hope that the bank's initiatives would help resolve accumulated losses and imbalances. He stressed the need for improved management quality and accelerated quantitative measures. The minister also emphasized the importance of completing unfinished projects, resolving inequalities, and providing credit services, particularly in supply chain finance.

Khandouzi pointed out the effective actions of the bank in selling properties and added: This action is not possible except with the collective will of the board of directors and bank managers, and we also support the brave managers to make such important decisions so that in 1403 we see the sale of inactive companies much more than last year.

The minister also addressed the issue of credit and said: Special attention should be paid to issues related to the provision of credit services, and Melli Bank should take steps in this area and provide credit services and play a leading role to see the best example Supply chain finances (SCFs) in BMI. In this way, the policymaker will be sure that the resources are used in the right direction, that is, production.

Microloan Disbursements Reach 58 Thousand Billion Tomans in 1402

Najjarzadeh presented a report on BMI's performance in 1402, highlighting the completion of 145 projects, including those focused on comprehensive banking, digital transformation, and efficient resource management. He noted that 65 projects will be concluded and 22 new ones initiated in the current year.

  Najjarzadeh : Skill-Based Hiring Will Become More Important In The BMI

The CEO of BMI emphasized the importance of skill-based hiring, with plans to strengthen this approach in 1403.

" In this filed, a plan was implemented to make all hirings in the bank and its subsidiaries through the the Recruitment Committee. This process will be strengthened in 1403 so that all recruitments are done based on their skills," he added.

"To address employee shortages, the bank implemented electronic and technological services, recruiting 1,832 individuals through written exams,"  he highlighted.

  Najjarzadeh  further pointed to the livelihood of the bank's employees and demanded to solve these problems in the current year.

BMI Takes Significant Step in Property Divestiture

He pointed to the emphasis of the Supreme Leader and the 13th administration on the withdrawal of banks from buying properties and investing in projects that are outside the banks' mission and added: Last year, the BMI sold about 36 thousand billion tomans of its assets to the private sector, which is the first step in the history of the bank and has been unprecedented

CEO of BMI added: This year our mission is to sell most of the stagnant bank assets to let the bank allocate its resources to lending and new investments.

Referring to Turning unproductive properties into productive assets, Najjarzadeh emphasized: BMI held 113 auctions for unproductive properties, selling 5,500 billion tomans worth of assets.

He stated: This year, all the Stagnant Assets of the bank and its subsidiary companies have been identified and auctions have been held since the beginning of the year, which will definitely continue strongly.

The CEO of Bank Melli of Iran mentioned that the bank has a large number of small customers, so the payment of microloans holds a special place within the bank. He referred to the payment of a 58 trillion tomans interest-free loan fund.

Regarding the approach of the Melli Bank of Iran in supporting knowledge-based companies, Najjarzadeh stated: BMI's support for knowledge-based companies, including a 5 thousand billion Tomans contract with the National Innovation Fund-INIF. The bank paid 17 thousand billion tomans in loans and issued 3 thousand billion tomans in guarantees.
 

BMI steps up supporting the National Housing Movement

The CEO the bank emphasized that BMI is accelerating its support for the National Housing Movement, concluding 80 thousand contracts valued at 19 thousand billion tomans.

"We will fulfill all these obligations after solving some problems in 2014," Najjarzadeh noted.

The CEO expressed commitment to fulfilling these obligations after resolving certain issues.

Najjarzadeh praised the integration of Noor Institute into the National Bank of Iran, which transferred 30,000 billion Rials in facilities and employed 2,000 employees.

Najjarzadeh said: Whenever a discussion about the integration of a group has been raised in the country, not only the government but the entire political system was involved in it, but last year, with the government's planning and the support of the Ministry of Economy, the integration of Noor Institute into the National Bank of Iran was done without any challenge.

He did not come and this is one of the good achievements of the 13th government.

He added: As a result, 30,000 billion Rials of Noor Institute facilities were transferred to National Bank, and about 2,000 of its human resources were employed in the bank.

BMI Achieves Record Capital Increase

The CEO of BMI considered the capital increase of the bank as one of the most important developments of the bank at the end of last year and said: Until now, the capital increase was the result of revaluation of assets, but at the end of last year, for the first time, and with the support of the government, the capital increase was made from cash, which was unprecedented.

Referring to the plans of the bank for this year, he emphasized: Continuing profitability, management of resources and expenses, stopping overdrafts, moving towards smart banking, and completely withdrawing from traditional banking are among the bank's goals this year. It is also planned to sell 50 thousand billion Tomans from the Bank's stagnant assets, and we have done the best of our abilities to realize it.

In the end, he appreciated the support of the Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance and the Ministry of Economy and said: Last year, 4 thousand billion Tomans in loand that were not paid were collected and it is expected that we will receive more loans this year.