Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 10
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iranian Bank Sepah will resume its activities in Italy, the bank's Governor Mohammad Kazem Chogazardi said, Tasnim news agency reported April 10.
He said that following the removal of international sanctions against Iran, the Italian Central Bank has issued permission for resuming activities of the Rome branch of Iran's Bank Sepah.
Chogazardi further said that the permission was released after intensive negotiations following the February visit of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to Italy.
Bank Sepah's Rome branch was the only Iranian bank in Italy which had an important role in facilitating the country's banking and trade activities in terms of opening letters of credit before the sanctions, he said.
The Rome branch of Iran's Bank Sepah, was subjected to a US economic embargo since January 2007 and also subjected to United Nations sanctions and Italian sanctions.
The economic sanctions against Iran were lifted last January after a nuclear deal that the country had sealed last year with the P5+1 group of countries - the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany - was implemented.
A central theme of the sanctions was putting restrictions on Iran's banking transactions with the international financial institutions through various mechanisms including closing SWIFT services to the country.