The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) says Russia’s Mir payment network will be connected to Iran’s Shetab banking network system as the two countries boost their financial cooperation.

EghtesadOnline: In what the Central Bank of Iran has referred to as the “first step in improving the security level of platforms for people’s monetary transactions”, the regulator has issued a directive stating that as of Feb. 4, all card not present (CNP) transactions without end-to-end encryption, except those aimed at paying public bills, will be prohibited and any bank that engages in them will be cut off from Shetab interbank and Shaparak payment networks.

EghtesadOnline: A total of 21.19 billion transactions were registered in the Iranian interbank information transfer network, or Shetab , in the previous fiscal year that ended in March, according to the Informatics Services Corporation, the main entity overseeing the country's payment network.

EghtesadOnline: Iran and Russia are still discussing integrating interbank transaction networks, Russia's Mir and Iran's Shetab , to ease transactions between the people and businesses of the two countries, an official with Iran's Trade Promotion Organization said.