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Illustration: David Manion |
Euromoney has travelled to one of Europe’s grandest capital cities for an interview with three bank executives who recently went on a trade mission to Iran. When we arrive, the bank’s communication officer is ashen-faced. She is really sorry, but at the last minute the compliance department has vetoed Euromoney’s meeting. The feeling is that it is not appropriate to be talking about it.
Why? Doing business with Iran is now legal again. The sanctions have been removed by the EU and UN and suspended by the US. The rules are reasonably clear; keep your trade out of dollars and your counterparties well out of the remaining sanctions list entities and you will be OK.
European corporates are clearly comfortable with it all. Daimler, Peugeot and Airbus are just a few of the bigger names among a glut of European multinationals keen to re-engage with an exciting new market.
But western banks are not following them in – or even talking about the possibility of following them in.
“It is still very difficult to receive payments from or transfer funds into Iran,” says Silke Waters, a spokesperson at Daimler in Stuttgart, which announced a truck manufacturing deal with automotive company Iran Khodro shortly after sanctions were lifted.
