Baku, Azerbaijan, March 1
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
Iran has lost hope to connect to international credit card services, including MasterCard and Visa, despite the initial optimistic statements following the removal of international sanctions last year.
Iran’s banking system is not connected to international payment networks, Nasser Hakimi, head of the Central Bank of Iran’s IT Department, said, ISNA news agency reported March 1.
MasterCard does not have any activities in Iran, as the US sanctions against the Islamic Republic remain in place, Hakimi said, adding that Iran has no direct contact with the company.
He said it is impossible to forecast about provision of any future services by the company to Iranians, adding the obstacles should be removed first.
However, Hakimi added that the Islamic Republic has had talks with non-American credit card companies, expressing hope that the talks will be concluded the next fiscal year (to start March 2017).
The CBI head Valiollah Seif said last year that the Central Bank is preparing an infrastructure for use of international credit cards inside Iran.
Seif added that Iran can only work with branches of the US companies that provide credit card services in other parts of the world.
Earlier, Iranian media outlets quoted Mahmoud Vaezi, the country’s ICT minister, as saying that Iran’s Post Company signed a deal with a foreign firm to offer MasterCard service to Iranians, meanwhile the US-based MasterCard rejected any cooperation with Iran.
Iranian officials have already said the country is preparing a ground for people to use credit cards provided by Asian banks until the restrictions on using the international electronic payment operators, like Visa and MasterCard, are removed.