Banks to Present IFRS-Based Balance Sheets by June

EghtesadOnline: All Iranian banks officially listed in the capital market will devise and present their balance sheets as per the International Financial Reporting Standards, according to the CEO of the state-run Export Development Bank of Iran.

News ID: ۷۸۲۴۴۲

28 April 2018

“Because the required infrastructures are in place, it is predicted that the banks’ balance sheets will be devised before the legal deadline of [the Iranian month of] Tir (begins June 22),” Ali Salehabadi was also quoted as saying by the official website of the Monetary and Banking Research Institute.

He made the statements ahead of the Sixth Iran-Europe Banking and Business Forum scheduled for April 28-29 in Tehran, which will have Iranian banks’ compliance with IFRS as one of its main focuses.

“This time the issue will not drag until the final months of the [fiscal] year” in March 2019, Financial Tribune quoted Salehabadi as saying.

The Central Bank of Iran obligated all banks and credit institutions to draft their financial statements on its new IFRS template. However, even as it was a positive step for the lenders and their messy balance sheets, banks were unable to fully implement IFRS and only adopted measures that are now beginning to pay off.

As the EDBI chief executive pointed out, Iran’s banking system lacked the infrastructure two years ago and was struggling with balance sheets until a few months ago, which led to the delay of annual general meetings of many banks.

But now, Salehabadi said, as banks draft their new and more comprehensive statements, IFRS will prove to be “a suitable tool for banks to identify and manage their risks through better understanding”, in addition to “giving shareholders and investors a better and more transparent information while giving them the possibility to evaluate” the prevailing circumstances.