Title: Sepah Bank Charts Course of Stability and Growth, Reinforcing its Central Role in Iran’s Economy
In a comprehensive address to the bank’s board members and senior executives, Dr. Ayatollah Ebrahimi, the CEO of Sepah Bank, outlined a robust performance trajectory, emphasizing the institution’s pivotal and historical role in the nation’s economic infrastructure. As Iran’s first and most established century-old bank, Sepah continues to leverage its extensive service network to deliver superior financial services to the public and key economic sectors.
A Pillar of the National Economy
Dr. Ebrahimi highlighted the bank’s formidable scale, with a balance sheet exceeding 2,000 “Hemat” (a unit of account) and an operational footprint of approximately 2,900 branches and over 40,000 employees. This extensive network underpins its significant contribution to the country’s economic activities.
Strategic Financing and National Initiatives
A cornerstone of the bank’s operations in the past Iranian year (1403) was the allocation of approximately 400,000 billion Tomans in facilities to various economic sectors. Notably, 12% of this figure, equating to 48,000 billion Tomans, was dedicated to mandatory lending programs. These state-directed initiatives support vital national priorities, including marriage, childbearing, and housing production.
Beyond general lending, Sepah Bank has been instrumental in financing critical national infrastructure projects. Dr. Ebrahimi detailed the bank’s collaborative involvement in major ventures such as the transfer of water from the Persian Gulf to southeastern industries, the construction of small-scale solar power plants, and development projects in oil, gas, steel, and cement. The total value of these partnerships was reported at over $11 billion and 15,000 billion Tomans.
Operational Excellence and Efficiency
The bank’s leadership also pointed to successful management of significant operational challenges. Sepah Bank effectively navigated a large-scale merger of banks affiliated with the armed forces and subsequently took on the “Nanino” project. This initiative involved installing over 106,000 point-of-sale systems in bakeries nationwide, creating an intelligent management system for flour and bread sales that reportedly saved the country around 2 million tons of flour.
Financial Resilience and Future Outlook
Despite a recent cyber-attack that targeted the bank as a critical entity, Dr. Ebrahimi reported that essential services were restored in less than a week, crediting the bank’s crisis management experience and the patience of its customers.
Financially, the bank has remained profitable based on its consolidated financial statements over the last three years. The added value of assets and investments on its balance sheet is over 300,000 billion Tomans. A significant part of the bank’s current financial structure involves substantial claims on the government, which are being addressed. In collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance, the Central Bank, and the Planning and Budget Organization, a financial strength plan is being finalized and is set to be operationalized within the current year.
A Century of Trust, A Future of Promise
Concluding his remarks, Dr. Ebrahimi expressed confidence in the bank’s future as it embarks on its second century of operation. He affirmed that Sepah Bank, with its century of experience and specialized human capital, is poised to continue its role as one of the country’s most reliable financial institutions, playing an even brighter part in the national economy and enhancing public welfare.