Behind the scenes of private banks

 

 

 

 

Tehran’s Imam Khomeini Square, Ferdowsi Street, Malek Alley, the cul-de-sac of the property houses a building that resembles an abandoned building left over from the 50s more than an economic gathering.

The building is simple, old and even abandoned. The rooms are filled with old tables, wooden and sometimes green metal chairs. In the public meeting room, a large sofa has been spread to be both a hall and a meeting hall. The CEO’s room is located in the southernmost part of the building. The board of directors also holds meetings of the Islamic Economic Organization in this room. The windows of the rooms are all decorated with stained glass from the 50s. All rooms have a glass door with a metal frame. Old phones are placed on all the tables, which may be as difficult to find in the Tehran market as it is to buy a wireless phone in the most remote part of Afghanistan that survived the war. It is narrated that the building of the organization belonged to a capitalist and he planned to turn this building into an arcade before the revolution, but the whirlwind of the revolution destroyed his idea.

The building has trustees compatible with its appearance. All of the board of directors are old bazaars who still consider the tradition of Qarz al-Hasna to be preferable to any kind of banking behavior. They once intended to become an Islamic bank, but fate had a different fate for the “first” fans of the private bank license in the Islamic Republic. However, eight kilometers above Imam Khomeini Square and a little lower than Tehran’s Argentina Square, there is a seemingly humble building that is the opposite of the same building on Ferdowsi Street. The same name has been registered on the front of the building, which has almost besieged Tehran and other cities in the country for the past year. “Tat” is the same tribe that used to live around Buin Zahra and near Qazvin many years ago. It is said that some people of the tribe have also moved to the vicinity of Talash in the north of the country.

 The largest private

Those who have closed two buildings at the beginning of Tehran’s Vizier Street named “Tat” are also attributed to this tribe. The simple building, downstream of Argentina Square, has a different interior than its exterior. One of the researchers of social sciences mentioned that the position of Iranians can be divided into two categories. The first part is in the heart and the second part is in the outside. In the first part, each person takes his own position, and in the second part, he goes along with others. The “TAT” bank building in Tehran is also a symbol of such behavior. The simple building is aristocratic inside. The chairman and founder of the bank is the owner of the largest furniture market in Iran. b

Sayari is known as a famous furniture maker. Iran’s furniture market in Yaftabad, Tehran is also in the list of investments of Ali Ansari, the current owner of Tat Bank. In decorating his bank building, Ali Ansari has used everything he had learned in the Iranian furniture market over the years. Expensive sofas are spread across the halls on hand-woven silk carpets. The office of the CEO and the Chairman of the Board of Directors are protected by electronic doors and password “codes”. The walls are given a special character with golden and expensive electric lights, and rare wallpapers cover the walls so that the hard brick does not feel inferior in the face of the royal lights. The red carpet has been rolled out for the CEO’s office.

Another carpet leads the guests to the waiting room, which again preserves the same timeless tradition of the building: “Silk carpet behind leather, expensive furniture, decorative lamps and focused light on a wooden table with carved legs.” The door in the north of the room opens to the CEO’s office. Inside Tat Bank, Binhait is similar to its founders. Ali Ansari, the founder of the bank, has become one of Iran’s famous financiers. His relatives say that his father had an active presence in the Tehran bazaar in the 40s, but none of the elders of the Tehran bazaar confirm this group’s statement. Ali Ansari enters the university and continues to study architecture until the bachelor’s degree. After he finished his studies

It goes to construction activities. It is said that he established his first office in Shadabad neighborhood of Tehran. This part of Tehran bazaar is known as ironmonger’s house. He established Baharan 1 and 2 buildings in the same area. This group was not a very important name in Iran’s economy until the 70s, but after the end of the war and at the same time as the boom in the construction industry, Ali Ansari also turned to “build and sell”. During this period, he gained a rare wealth through the fluctuations of the housing market. During this period, Ali Ansari had the good fortune to meet Vaez Ashtiani, a member of the Islamic Mutalfa and also the deputy minister of industries in the 9th government. This familiarity was good for both sources. Vaez Ashtiani takes Ansari to the board of directors of Esteghlal Sports Club of Tehran so that his wealth can help sports.

 At the same time, Ansari became the president of the Iranian Furniture and Decoration Association and also the Cycling Federation, which definitely owed the second title to Vaez Ashtiani. He had added Iran furniture market, Tehran tube and profile factories, Khoshkhovnavin manufacturing and industrial factories and also Iran mobile phone market to his list of properties in West Tehran railway market. “Tat” investment group was established during this period. When the Tat Group started its activities, it was heavily focused on the construction sector, the same industry that made Ansari a big capitalist.

At the same time, Tat group managers invited a group of famous political and economic people and presented the idea of starting a bank to Ansari. Ali Ansari also quickly accepted such a proposal. In this way, Tat Investment Group tried to gather a group of famous bank managers. The first option for TAT capitalists was “Jalal Rasoulov”. Before he was added to this group, he had managed the Agricultural Bank, as well as the “Kareafrin” and “Economist” banks were established and managed with his ideas. Dr. Jalal Rasoulov himself is a complicated story in Iran’s economy. His brother is one of the most famous filmmakers in the country. His son was in the group of young photographers of the country who recently covered his face in dirt.

To immortalize his son’s name, the father named one of the best photography galleries in Tehran. But Dr. Jalal, unlike his son and brother, did not stay much in the work of art. He was called a banker. Rasulof is considered the most prominent banking figure in Iran. In order to continue his work, he quickly went to “Bahauddin Hashemi”, the former CEO of Saderat Bank. Hashemi was one of the country’s prominent bank executives who had learned financial activities in the 50s. Hashmi had gone through all the management stages in Saderat Bank. From the head of the foreign exchange unit to the CEO of Saderat Bank, all of his experiences were considered. During his many years of management, Hashemi added a master’s degree in executive management to his bachelor’s degree in management.

Rasulof and Hashemi together laid the foundations of Tat Bank. The name of the bank was chosen by Ali Ansari. He himself was from the “Tat” tribe and saw such a name suitable for the bank. But Hashemi and Rasoulov had enough management experience to know that an ethnic name brings political problems. For this reason, they made another Qabai for “Tat”: “Experience, Trust, Development” slogan of Tat Bank was produced after naming the bank. In this way, the name Tat was registered as the first Iranian bank, which was derived from a geographical region. The two bank managers of the country did not lack political experience. These two chose the 8th day of the 8th month of 1988 to establish the bank, so that next to the Eighth Imam Court in Mashhad, Tat Bank will officially appear as the eighth private bank of Kishor-e-Alam. Ali Ansari, Hashemi and Rasoulof established a new bank like this. The CEO of this bank is not very interested in expressing the bank’s activities, but reports show that TAT is still active in construction activities.

Construction Bank

 But “tats” are not unrivalled. Years before Anan Bank stepped into the financial space of Iran, another group of capital owners, who were also builders, established a bank for themselves. Many years ago, a contracting company was established in the country, which undertook the most prominent construction projects. The founders named the company “Stratus”. The company was established in 1357. The founders were also civil engineers who had many revolutionary activities. This group chose the name of a type of cloud for their company, which in the scientific definition is a rainmaker.

At the top of the company were young but sophisticated figures. Mohammad Sadrhashmi, CEO of the group, became a well-known name in the political and economic environment of Iran in the 60s. He is of Kerman origin. Sadrhashmi narrates that it currently has more than 10 thousand employees. Sadr Hashemi had difficult conditions in his life until the mid-60s. He himself says that he had taken a project in Tabriz for a contractor company, but he did not have enough money to travel to Tabriz and stay at an inn. Sadr Hashemi describes his life in such a way that he is currently one of the richest economic managers in Iran. Sadrhashmi and his company have completed more than ten large contracting projects in Iran in the last 10 years. He has also made investments in Pakistan.

Some people narrated that Sadr Hashemi even helped the government to buy essential goods for the fronts. During the 70s, Sadrhashmi stepped aside and tried to strengthen the group. During these years, Abbas Akhundi, the then Minister of Housing and Urban Development, advised Sadr Hashemi and his other friends to establish a separate cooperative for construction activities. This group was responsible for meeting the financial needs of the company. Stratos and New Cooperative reach a new conclusion in 1380.

 They had effective forces in the government and they got the idea of establishing a bank from there. Stratos Group and another construction group, along with Sadr Hashemi and Hossein Abdo Tabrizi, the former Secretary General of the Tehran Stock Exchange, are starting their consultations to establish a bank. This time, on the recommendation of Hossein Abdo Tabrizi, who himself has a lot of experience in construction and financial affairs, Jalal Rasoulov was quickly added to the founding team of the bank. In the same year, the general assembly of the bank is convened after obtaining the approval of the central bank and is officially registered with the number 177132.

The construction group quickly collects 250 billion Rials capital. The capital quickly reaches 2500 billion Rials. In 1989, at the same time as the peak of the bank’s activities, the amount of capital rises to four thousand billion Rials. The bank’s conditions have been so pleasant for its founders that even they have predicted that the bank’s capital will reach 15 thousand billion rials in the next year. Hossein Abdo Tabrizi, the owner of account number “1” of this bank, had happy memories of his years in the Tehran Stock Exchange, and for this reason, he quickly listed the bank on the stock exchange.

 The conditions in the stock market also become pleasant for the bank, and the institution considered by Stratos Group quickly turns into one of the profitable companies. Last year, New Economy Bank gave a dividend of 450 Rials to each of its shareholders.

 During the years of its activity, the bank established 250 branches and continues to deal with construction matters. Presence in the construction industry of New Economy Bank

It was very similar to Bank Tat, but these two groups found different fates in the same area. The Tatis were never blamed due to the presence of Ali Ansari and his closeness to government institutions, but the leaders of the modern economy experienced at least two severe crises. For the first time, in one of his speeches, the head of state mentioned people who deal in iron and real estate. The reference of his words was announced by the external analysts of Ekhtaznovin Bank. This was the first hard crisis for banker builders. But the story did not end.

In addition to its financial activities, New Economy Bank had established a company called “Nusa”, which was involved in construction projects. Due to its influential presence in this field and also benefiting from past relationships, Noosa becomes the main construction company of the country. Therefore, the construction project of the Haqqani metro line will be handed over to the Noosa company affiliated with the Novin Economy Bank.

 The owners of the company quickly invite a consulting company from “Dubai” to Tehran for joint investment. Noosa and the foreign company had started the work that the Haqqani metro incident will turn into a big crisis. The project is taken from “Nusa” for non-economic reasons, so that the biggest blow has been given to Ekhtaznovin Bank. During this period, “Economics Novin” also had differences with the Bank of Agriculture, which was the main cause of the bank’s subsequent troubles. At the same time as this trend, the economic circles are strongly blaming the modern economist. Before the incident of “Nusa”, Iran’s private sector had a bitter experience.

Persians have a bitter experience

 Parsian Bank, as one of the most successful examples of Iranian banking, was an indicator of political trouble, and economic innovators had not learned the example of the past. In one of his provincial trips, the president mentioned the activities of Bank Parsian and considered this bank to be the cause of high housing prices. At the top of those who were accused was a name: “Abdullah Talebi”. He was the CEO and founder of the bank.

Talebi was under a lot of pressure. The speech in Nazarabad was accompanied by the Central Bank’s reaction. The central bank quickly dismissed Abdullah Talebi and Bahram Fathali, the head of the bank’s board of directors. The story of the dismissal of these two started when Iran Khodro Company, as the major shareholder of Parsian Bank, decided to transfer its management shares, which included about 30% of the shares of the country’s largest private bank. The buyers of shares were a number of economic activists in the private sector who intended to buy shares by receiving a facility from a foreign bank. The applicants for the purchase of shares had entered into negotiations with another private bank to provide a part of the price of the transaction through a loan and pay the other part in cash by pledging the purchased shares in that bank. The auction for the sale of shares with a base price of about 300 billion Tomans was held in the stock exchange, but during the transaction, the presidency in a public speech declared the transaction illegal and issued an order to cancel it.

 After the cancellation of Iran Khodro’s share transaction in Parsian Bank, the then Chairman of the Central Bank, Ebrahim Shibani, announced the disqualification of the CEO and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Parsian Bank, and called for the general meeting of this bank and the election of new managers. But the real story started when some circles spread rumors about the initial capital of the bank. According to this rumor, the bank’s initial capital has increased from 30 billion tomans in 1982 to 200 billion tomans in 1983.

The spread of this rumor was so much that even the presidential election candidates of 1983 mentioned this issue in their provincial trips. The then CEO of Parsian Bank tries to make an appointment with the head of the 9th and 10th government before the elections to explain about the bank, but he is not successful.

 In the next stage, Talebi made another appointment with the president to give an explanation, but the second appointment was also canceled. Talebi himself explains about this as follows: “One of these authorities was the Court of Administrative Justice. to the illegal action of the central bank in dismissing the managers of Parsian Bank  We filed a complaint. We also complained to the General Inspection Organization of the country, that is, we directly submitted our complaint to the Honorable Head of the Judiciary, and he referred the matter to the General Inspection Organization of the country. The issue was raised in the Economic Commission and the Industries and Mines Commission of the Islamic Council, and a fact-finding group was formed and a report was prepared in this regard. Our discussion was how the legal procedure for dealing with a violation in the banking system should be. The legal procedure is that in case of a violation, the case must be referred to the Secretary General of the Central Bank as the prosecutor of the case. The Secretary General must announce the crime and the case should be presented to the banks’ disciplinary committee, which consists of representatives of the Supreme Council of Banks, the Money and Credit Council, and the Attorney General of the country.

Based on the existing regulations, the subject matter of the case is examined in terms of form and content in this board, and the exact amount of punishment and fines for the violations have been determined. Even based on the provisions, if the authority of a bank manager should be revoked, this board should give an opinion. The decision will be announced to the defendant and the central bank, and if the parties have objections, the matter of objection will be raised in the Money and Credit Council, and this council will give the final opinion.

 In fact, the Money and Credit Council is the appeal authority. Even in the law, the disqualification of a bank manager must be approved by three ministers and the prime minister, and since there is no prime minister, the vote must be approved by the first vice president or the president himself. But the central bank voted to disqualify the directors of Parsian Bank without going through these cases, and this decision was not issued by the head of the central bank or the secretary general, but by one of the heads of the departments under the supervision of the bank supervision management. That is, the gentlemen did not bother to prepare the disqualification letter, but they asked one of the heads of the branch of one of the bank’s managements to send us the disqualification order.

 We told the gentlemen what is your legal license for this work and they replied that when we have the authority to recognize the authority, we also have the power to revoke the authority.”

 Shortly after this, the CEO of Parsian Bank, as one of the members of the fifth development plan, received a decree from the president. This was the main paradox of Bank Parsian. The fate of Parsian Bank convinced many people not to establish independent financial institutions. The first phase of the establishment of independent private banks was also completed during this period with the presence of two other private banks.

Entrepreneur founders

 “Kareafrin” Bank was established by the same group that had established “Ektisadnovin” Bank. This group was led by Abbas Akhundi, the former Minister of Housing, as well as Jalal Rasoulov. Pasargad Bank was added to this bank quickly. Pasargad was established in 2004 and attracted one million and 500 thousand shareholders. But the second phase of the establishment of private banks was delayed for at least a few years. Once again, the behavior pattern of the first generation private banks was not very efficient.

The new private banks were either affiliated to the country’s official institutions or tried to gather a group of family capitalists based on the Tat Bank model. “Saman” bank was another example of family activity. This model was implemented before the revolution by the Lajordi family and in “Iranian” bank.

The capitalist family “Zarabieh” founded Saman Bank on the model of electronic banking. This family has Yazdi origins. They were very active in the market in the years before the revolution. The family established the bank in 1981 with an initial capital of 200 billion Rials. The Samanis were quickly successful in attracting the audience and in 1989 they increased their capital to 1800 billion Rials. Zarrabieh knew very well that in order to establish a successful bank, one should go to the famous financial managers of the country. Rajaee Salmasi, an Azeri-speaking man and the first general secretary of the Tehran Stock Exchange, was elected as the CEO of the bank in the years after the revolution. Rajaee Salmasi knew very well that success in Iran’s economic environment requires unwritten preconditions.

 He adopted a solution so that the fate of Saman Bank does not resemble the fate of Parsian Bank. Rajaee Salmasi quickly signed a long-term contract with the Ministry of Commerce to participate in many projects of this government institution. Participating in the implementation of the plan to provide electronic coupons by the Ministry of Commerce, implementing Internet payment services for the e-commerce pioneer project of the Ministry of Commerce, and implementing the pilot project of launching the Digital Certificate Center of the Ministry of Commerce were the main government projects of Saman Bank. At the same time, preparations were made to cooperate with the railway company so that Saman Bank becomes the bank that sells electronic train tickets.

 But the presence of Rajaei Salmasi also brought costs for the bank. Therefore, the new CEO was chosen by the board of directors and one of the managers of National Bank was chosen as the head of the bank. The founder of the bank, Mohammad Zarabieh, also preferred to leave the position of chairman of the board of directors, but in the past weeks, the fundamentalist media have set the biggest margin for Saman Bank. Not long ago, the president’s car in Abadan was handed over to the representative of an Iranian company for two billion and 500 million tomans. During the purchase of Ahmadinejad’s Peugeot 504, the company’s lawyer refused to disclose the name of the company. At the same time as this news, the “9th of December” weekly newspaper owned by Hamid Rasai, a fundamentalist representative of the parliament, announced that the person who bought the car of the head of state is called “Dashti” engineer. Based on this information, he also owns 34% of the shares of Saman Bank. Of course, the public relations of Saman Bank denied this issue in a conversation with Hamshahri Bazar.

Dashti is considered one of the most important people who was in contact with Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei and also Baghai. Even some news agencies report that Manhes Dashti owns 30% of the shares of Turishi Bank. The most important issue regarding Dashti is related to his financial conditions. Keihan newspaper dated April 24 has identified Dashti as one of the biggest bank debtors. Kahan writes about this: “It is said that the discussion of buying this car was a marginal issue to create a safe margin in not repaying the big bank debt without the president’s knowledge and by the design of some suspicious and influential people.”

Without introducing these “suspicious persons”, Kayhan reminded his previous warnings about “infiltration of some bread at the daily rate that are hidden in the shadow of the honorable president” and asked the government officials to follow up on the news published about Mr. Ahmadinejad’s car buyer. .

Based on this information, the engineer “Dashti” is active in the construction industry and also owns a part of the shares of the steel factory and “Ata” airline. During the disclosure against him, the name of Saman Bank and also Tourism was brought forward, which brought many side effects for Saman Bank. But this was not all the troubles of Saman Bank. Perhaps one of the main problems of Saman Bank is related to the problem of transferring the accounts of this bank. Saman Bank gathered a group of famous figures in the Internet field to launch the bank’s e-commerce network.

 This group were old and very experienced hackers who even after the end of the Saman Bank project, a group of them were recruited by some institutions in the country. In the middle of the bank’s activities, one of the news sites reported that due to the low security of Saman Bank’s information network, accounts in this bank are being moved by hackers.

Saman Bank quickly denied this news, but there were still uncertainties about the bank’s activities. Zarrabieh tried to remove Saman Bank from the comments after new arguments. He was worried about the days when he would suffer the fate of the Persians.

 The publication of consecutive news about the difficult conditions of Saman Bank also brought some side effects to the country’s banking system. After this process, the establishment of real private banks was stopped semi-officially. At the same time, the central bank was faced with a wave of financial and credit institutions that were thinking of establishing a bank. Important institutions of the country informally supported financial and credit institutions.

The first bank with five hundred branches

 The first institution that requested the establishment of a bank in the new period was the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Ansarul Mujahideen Fund had started its official presence in the country’s financial market years ago. This fund had opened 500 branches across the country. Ansarul Mujahideen Fund operated under the IRGC Cooperation Foundation. The Cooperative Foundation was also founded by Akbar Ghamkhar, the former CEO of Persepolis Tehran Club, and Mohsen Rafiqdoost, the former IRGC Minister. The Cooperative Foundation intended to have an effective presence in the country’s financial environment. Dr. Salehi, one of the members of the Cooperative Foundation, was also managing the fund.

 The growth rate of the fund during the last two years was so high that the Central Bank decided to issue a bank license in the name of Sepah. Ansarul Mujahideen Fund was quickly renamed to Ansar Bank. The financial power of Sepah Cooperative Foundation was so high that it quickly added 170 branches to the previous 500 branches and brought the number of bank branches to 670. The bank attracted 6,200 billion tomans of capital through deposit and initial financing of the cooperative foundation. According to official statistics, last year, 15% of all Qarz Al-Hasna loans given to people by financial institutions were financed by Ansar Bank. The bank recruited 4,600 employees to manage its branches. The CEO of Ansar Bank narrates that all of them were chosen from among the “caring” youth.

 Ansar Bank has so many resources that according to official statistics, it has become the fourth largest company in Iran. This bank has 120 thousand shareholders. The bank is managed by Ayatollah Ebrahimi. His name had confused some critics of Ansar Bank.

 On news sites, they asked about the relationship between the expertise of a cleric and banking, but “Ayatollah” is actually the first name of “Ebrahimi” and he is not a cleric. Ebrahimi is recruited by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with a master’s degree in accounting and works in companies affiliated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. One of the main projects started by Ansar Bank is the granting of citizenship cards. This card is actually the same credit “cards” that were supposed to enter Iran’s financial network years ago.  After Ansar, the pattern of presence of military institutions in the country’s banking environment continued until the Central Bank issued the license to establish the “Mehreksedat” bank. This bank operates under Basij. Mehr Institute had about 150 billion Tomans in capital until March 2089, and according to the CEO of this institution, 92 billion Tomans of profit has been earned by the operators of Mehr Economy.

 This institution was established in 1372 with an initial capital of 10 million Rials. The initial name of the institution was “Basijian Fund”, which intended to provide loans to the Basijians. Dr. Gholamhasan Taghi Netaj, the CEO of this newly established bank, managed the Ansarul Mujahideen Fund (currently Ansar Bank) before joining Mehr Ekhtisad Iran. Ali Asgharsalehi, another member of the board of directors of this collection, is also one of the influential figures of the IRGC Cooperation Foundation. The Revolutionary Guards Cooperative Foundation owns 10% of the shares of this group. This institution has employed six thousand employees to run its 700 branches across the country. Mehr Economy Bank of Iran has concentrated its eight branches in the city of Qom, and according to the official information of the bank, more than 300,000 people have opened accounts in these eight branches. At the same time as the IRGC and Basij, the army realized the idea of establishing a bank for itself.

The army became the owner of the bank

 “Hekmat Iraniyan” Bank, owned by the army, officially announced its existence last year. The most important branches of Hekmat Iranian Bank are located around army barracks. In the city of Tehran, this rule was followed and the bank was concentrated in the east of the city and in the vicinity of the army barracks, but the wisdom of the Iranians at the time of its establishment was accompanied by margins. The army planned to increase the salaries and benefits of its employees and personnel in March  Deposit through the bank. This idea was proposed in a situation where the bank had not yet started its operational activities. In this way, the salaries and benefits of some of the army personnel were not granted to them in March. The site of Hekmat Iranian Bank, unlike all financial institutions, does not provide any information to the visitors. Even the public relations of the bank is not ready to announce the amount of capital and also the number of shareholders.

 The experience of the three banks belonging to the Revolutionary Guards, Basij and the Army has been successful enough so that the Foundation of the Underprivileged also thought of establishing its own financial institutions. The relative failure of public investment private bank projects, as well as the stress of establishing a family bank, have led people to establish banks belonging to different institutions.  “Sina” Bank, owned by Mustafafan Foundation, succeeded in obtaining the establishment license from the Central Bank in 2007. Before it became a bank, Sina was a financial and credit institution belonging to the Mustafafan Foundation. A group narrates that the prime minister during the war and the head of Mustafafan Foundation requested the establishment of this financial and credit institution in a letter to the central bank. Even someone close to the bank said that the signature of the Prime Minister regarding the establishment of this institution is still available.  After the Revolutionary Guards and Basij, Mustafafan Foundation thought of turning a credit financial institution into a bank. With the funds it had, the foundation quickly set up 270 branches across the country for its bank. According to official statistics, two million people have opened accounts in this bank, and the main part of these accounts is related to the parties to the contract with Mustafafan Foundation. The bank’s website announced that the per capita deposit attraction of each branch last year was 98 billion Rials.  The bank also has 160 ATMs, but perhaps one feature has distinguished Sina Bank from other banking examples in Iran. Mohammad Mokhbar, the chairman of the board of directors of this bank, is the executive officer of Mustafafan Foundation. His name was included in the EU sanctions list last year.

 This trend made the conditions for the continuation of Sina Bank’s international activities difficult, however, Abdul Naser Hemmati, the CEO of this bank and a former employee of the foundation as well as state banks, tried to focus the main focus of Sina Bank on the domestic side. According to unofficial information, Sina Bank is very active in construction related activities like “Tat”, “Ektisadnovin”, “Karafrin”, “Pasargad” and “Shahr” banks, but Mustafafan Foundation is not the only institution that the bank has established for itself.

Bank for Shahid Foundation

Last year, the Martyr Foundation also succeeded in obtaining the license to set up a bank. According to the official website of this bank, 5% of the shares belong to Shaheda’s family, 5% to Di Insurance, 30% to general underwriting and 60% to Shahid Foundation. Bank D has been launched again by the key of Iranian banking. “Jalal Rasulof” was chosen as the executive of this bank’s launch plan and established and managed the bank.

 He managed to attract 11,772 shareholders to Bank D for the first stage. According to Rasul F., 3,535 of these shareholders are women. Currently, Bank D has 132,000 real shareholders and 250,000 indirect real shareholders. D has opened five branches in Tehran and 47 branches in other cities. Among the true shareholders of this bank, 120 thousand people are children of martyrs. Among the executive team and the founder of Bank D, one name is more famous than others. Mohsen Mehralizadeh, the former head of the Physical Education Organization and also a candidate for the 2013 presidential election, was present in the circles as the most media person of the bank.

 Before joining D Bank, he was in charge of D Insurance. Mohsen Mehralizadeh appeared in one of the meetings of the Chamber of Commerce shortly before the establishment of Bank D and explained about the prevailing conditions of the bank. He believed that Bank D is private, but in the same meeting, a group of representatives of the private sector warned him that Bank D belongs to a quasi-governmental foundation.  Abdur Rahman Nadimi, the former governor of Bushehr and one of the founders of the country’s auditing organization, is also in charge of managing Shahid Foundation Bank. When he was elected as the CEO of the bank, Fars news agency stated in a news: “A Bushehri became the CEO of Bank D.” Nadimi Vali came to Bank D while the Khuzestans had established a bank for themselves. Even a group thought that Nadimi would go to the capital bank, which has its roots in Khuzestan. Capital Bank is actually the same as Farhangian Reserve Fund. This bank was established in 1984 and managed to increase its initial capital from 3535 billion Rials to 7070 billion Rials.

The bank currently has 305 thousand shareholders. Gholamreza Hajizadeh, a member of the board of directors of Bank Saderat Khuzestan, is also in charge of “Capital” management. Some circles close to the bank inform that “Jalal Rasoul F” was still present during the establishment of the bank.

 Together with a team of former executive directors of the country, he is active in the bodies of many banks in the country. Rasulof, together with Hossein Abdo Tabrizi, the former secretary general of the stock exchange and a member of the founding team of Ekhtaznovin Bank, were even active in the establishment of “Tourism” bank. A group narrates that this bank belongs to Esfandyar Rahim Mashai’s team.

 This issue became stronger when the members of the bank’s board of directors were introduced. All members of the Board of Directors of Tourism Bank were in the category of former high-ranking managers of the Tourism Organization. At the head of them is Mehdi Jahangiri, the deputy of Esfandiar Rahimmashai in the tourism organization. He is the younger brother of Ishaq Jahangiri, Minister of Industries and Mines of the 7th and 8th governments. Before turning into a bank, Tourism Bank was established in the late 60s by a group of executive and economic managers of the country under the title of Development Financial Institution. But while it is announced that the tourism bank is not affiliated with the travel and tourism organization, official information shows that “Cultural Heritage and Tourism Investment Company of Iran – Semga” owns 60% of the two thousand billion rial shares of the bank.

Even the bank’s website informs that the shareholders of Tourism Bank are the same founders of Semgan Tourism Holding. This group is accompanied by members of the hoteliers’ union, the tour operators’ community, the guides’ community, the tourism industry investors’ association, investment companies in the tourism sector and other people involved in the tourism industry – along with other industry and business owners – financial resources. 30% of the shares of this bank belong to the same initial team, which were very close to the executive vice president and the tourism organization. Bagai himself is in the category of companions of Esfandyar Rahim Mashai. Another 15% of the bank’s shares have been bought by two mass production companies. In this way, the tourism bank enters the campaign of construction companies. Tourism Bank opened 30 branches in the country only 90 days after its establishment and plans to increase the number of branches to 120 by the end of 2019. Among the main team of the bank, the name of Ali Zirknejad is more interesting than others. He is in charge of the management of Ifik Holding AG Dusseldorf. Some institutions close to the bank narrate that he is among the Iranians who participated actively in the “Iranian” conference.

Official reports show that the central bank continues to issue licenses for bank establishment. 12 private banks have opened branches on Jordan Street in Tehran alone, and they continue to add luxurious buildings to their former collections, but still in the south of Tehran, the old building of the failed idea of the Islamic Bank is sitting watching the efforts to change the country’s financial system.