Iran and Russia holding final talks to integrate banking systems, in bid to dodge US financial sanctions

Iran and Russia are in the final stages of inking a deal to integrate the banking systems of the two countries. The agreement will let the citizens of the two countries use their credit and debit cards in each other's countries, thereby strengthening the banking card system.

"Iranian citizens who have a Shetab (Iran's national payment system) card and those who have Russian (Mir) cards will be able to use ATMs in both countries," the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) said.

The Iranian banking officials are working with their Russian counterparts to finalise the deal that also lets them dodge the financial sanctions by the United States that are likely to be a part of the Trump administration in the future.

"At present, Iran has the closest ties with Russia in the field of international credit cards and good measures have been taken in technical terms. In recent months, tests have been carried out less regularly due to some legal problems," commented Davood Mohammad Beigi, Director of the payment system department of the CBI, announced, as quoted by Al Bawaba.

When asked about the future of the financial relationship between the two nations, he said, "In order for any relations to be established, the two countries and their respective central banks need to reach agreements."

In last October, Iran's Informatics Services Corporation entered an agreement with Russia's BPC Group of Companies to merge the country's financial network with global payments systems.   

As per the deal, the companies would work on to create a standard banking card switch platform in order to provide a link between Iranian clients and international providers of financial services.