TEHRAN - Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Governor Ali Salehabadi says a series of major banking agreements reached between Iran and Russia, including those concerning the use of mutual currencies for bilateral trade, will take effect soon.
Speaking after meeting senior Russian government officials, Salehabadi said that he had signed several memoranda of understanding (MoUs) on banking and financial issues during his two-day visit to Russia.
“We will execute the MoUs reached during this trip in the near future and traders, merchants and economic agents will see the results of these agreements,” Salehabadi told the IRIB News.
Responding to a question about the possibility of using cards issued by Iranian and Russian banks in the two countries, he said there are still issues that should be sorted out.
The top banker also hinted that Iran and Russia may be able to link up their banking messaging systems in future.
The CBI chief said, however, that the new banking and financial MoUs reached between Iran and Russia will cement the growing economic and energy ties between the two countries.
In addition to meetings held with his Russian counterpart and CEOs of tops banks in Russia, Salehabadi also met Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak on Friday.
Iran and Russia have been seeking closer economic ties especially since February when Moscow came under a series of Western sanctions because of a military conflict in Ukraine.
Almost the entire banking system in both Iran and Russia are subject to foreign sanctions and access to international banking services is restricted for state and private banks in the two countries.
Tehran, Moscow to Ditch
Dollar From Transactions

And also, Salehabadi says the Islamic Republic and Russia have explored ways, in recent talks, to eliminate the U.S. dollar from their financial transactions in order to facilitate economic cooperation under sanctions.
Following extensive talks with Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak and Minister of Economic Development Maksim Reshetnikov, Salehabadi said that “good agreements” were reached between the two sides in banking, financial and economic sectors.
Salehabadi said the topic of using national currencies instead of the U.S. dollar in mutual transactions was high on the agenda of the discussions in Moscow.
The Iranian and Russian officials, he added, also held talks on the replacement of SWIFT with domestic financial messaging systems.
The agreements will be put in action in the near future and the outcome will be “tangible” in bilateral trade ties, Saleh-Abadi said.
The CBI chief said his trip contributed to the enhancement of relations between the business people of the two countries.
Iran and Russia, both subjected to tough economic sanctions by the Western countries, are determined to deepen their economic cooperation, said Saleh-Abadi, adding that there are great capacities for increasing the volume of bilateral trade.