New CBI Entities Approved

EghteasadOnline: Members of Majlis Economic Commission on Sunday approved the formation of new specialized committees within the Central Bank of Iran for reviewing articles related to long-awaited bank reforms.

News ID: ۷۸۳۹۷۵

11 September 2018

According to the commission's spokeswoman, Zahra Saeidi Mobarakeh, MPs have green-lighted the formation of a specialized monetary and forex policy committee in addition to a supervisory entity.

"A law enforcement council was also approved, which will operate as a subset of the Supervision Department while a number of instruments for implementing monetary policies by the central bank were ratified by the commission," she told ICANA, the official news outlet of the parliament.

Mobarakeh said as finalized by MPs in their review of CBI-related articles of bank reform measures, the composition of the CBI Islamic Jurisprudence Council has been approved in the country's Sixth Five-Year Development Plan (2017-22), according to Financial Tribune.

As cited in the development plan, the council will comprise the central bank’s deputy governor and deputy for supervisory affairs, a chief executive of a bank and a member of Majlis Plan and Budget Commission who will be selected through a parliamentary vote. This is on top of five jurists introduced by the central bank to the Guardians Council.

Based on an article in Sixth Plan, the jurisprudence council of the central bank need to be legally established. It will be mainly tasked with the way CBI exerts supervision over banks and how well they implement Islamic guidelines. Most importantly, the council will have a say over deposit interest rates and their compliance with Islamic law.

On Sept. 1, Guardians Council executive deputy, Siamak Rahpeyk, said CBI introduced six jurists or experts in Islamic jurisprudence when the former CBI governor, Valiollah Seif, who was replaced on July 25, was still in office. He said the eligibility of four jurists was approved.

Members of Majlis Economic Commission first started reviewing the articles of Banking Reform Bill in early August. They continued the process from Saturday and will keep working through an ongoing two-week parliamentary recess at the behest of Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani.