Growth in Iran's Electronic Banking

EghtesadOnline: The Central Bank of Iran's press release indicates considerable growth in operations of key electronic banking platforms during the first half (March-Sept. 2019) of the current fiscal year.

News ID: ۷۴۹۲۳۵

21 December 2019

Shetab, Iran's interbank transactions network,  processed 20.4 billion transactions during the six months with a total value of 22,871 trillion rials ($177 billion). This indicates 25% increase in the number of Shetab transactions and 27% growth in value terms, compared to the same period last year.

Shetab is the sole ATM card system currently in use in Iran. The system is used by and between all private and public accredited banks and can be used via ATMs and point-of-sale (POS) terminals in stores and restaurants.

Shaparak, the domestic payment transactions network, registered 28% increase in total transactions during the said period, processing 27.6 billion transactions. The total volume of transactions through Shaparak grew 26% to reach 14,753 trillion rials ($114.8 billion), Financial Tribune reported.

Shaparak offers services via three main instruments, namely internet, cellphone and point of sale (POS) devices.

Based on the report, the total number of instruments for receiving payments showed 1.49% increase during last calendar month (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) compared to a month earlier to reach 10.05 million.

Paya, the electronic clearing house, hosted 874 million transactions during the six-month period, settling 19,000 trillion rials ($148 billion). CBI reports year- on-year increase of 33% and 30% in total number of transactions and their value, respectively.

Real-Time Gross Settlement System of Iran, locally known by its Persian acronym Satna, also processed 13.6 million transactions to register 82% growth year-on-year. The value of transactions amounted to 61,878 trillion rials ($481.5 billion), which shows a 144% hike compared to the same period last year.

People have increasingly turned to Satna and checks for conducting large transactions after the CBI imposed restrictions on transactions of over 500 million rials (about $4,000). The measure came as part of a renewed CBI measure to monitor large and suspicious transactions.

CBI data also show that more than 47 million checks worth 15.8 quadrillion rials ($123 billion) were exchanged during the half-year period, though the number is 21% and 6% lower than in the previous year.

Chekavak is an electronic check processing system that primarily aims at eliminating the physical circulation of checks in the banking system and at the same time seeks to improve the credibility of checks.