Iran’s largest credit institution placed into administration

The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) said on Sunday that it had appointed a team of three administrators to restructure the Melal Credit Institution after the lender accumulated a loss of 650 trillion rials ($590 million)

Head of CBI’s regulatory and oversight department Farshad Mohammadpour said the Melal Institution had an asset–liability mismatch of 450 trillion rials and its capital adequacy ratio was minus 41%.

Mohammadpour said that administrators are expected to restructure the Melal Institution in the next six months, mainly by selling off its non-banking assets, properties and affiliated enterprises to pay down its debts.

CBI’s decision about Melal Institution comes three weeks after the lender declared Bank Ayandeh, one of Iran's largest private banks, insolvent and transferred its assets and staff to the state-run Bank Melli.

That came after Bank Ayandeh accumulated losses of 5,500 trillion rials ($5.14 billion), in addition to 3,100 trillion rials in overdrafts from CBI resources.

The moves are part of the CBI’s sweeping efforts to reform Iran’s state-run and private banks despite the fact that the Iranian banking system remains under heavy international sanctions that restrict its access to foreign capital and investment.

Mohammadpour said last month that the number of distressed banks and credit institutions in Iran has been reduced from 14 to 5 over the past three years as a result of the CBI's reform plans.

He said that, in addition to the Melal Credit Institution, the state-run Bank Sepah and three private banks, Dey, Sarmayeh, and Iran Zamin, were undercapitalized or had high levels of non-performing loans./isna