The Main Task: Sepah is the oldest of Iranian banks enjoying a strong organizational structure. It has 1600 branches in Iran as well as many branches in Europe, including England, Germany, France, Italy, and in New York.
The main task of a bank is to absorb the idle cash of people in form of deposits and put them at the disposal of those who want to be active in manufacturing work in industry, agriculture or housing sector. Today world-class banks are customer-oriented, which means that they try to recognize and match their services with the needs of their customers.
The modern computer technology makes the customers independent of referring to banks in person, enabling them to do their banking operations at home or at their office.

Private Banking: Experience shows if banks want to be active and creative on an international level they should belong to the private sector and not the government. The countries which experience state-owned banking have turned to private banking.
In Iran, as we are moving toward the private banking system, some institutes which are similar to banks are being set up and regulations have been devised for this purpose. However, the important point is that “the culture to run a private bank” should prevail in the country. If this is not achieved, private banks would not be able to be effective. Even if the shareholder is government, the management style should be like that of the private banks.
We have to move in such a direction that the real meaning of bank will be understood by all officials. A bank is not the government’s fund; it should help the economy grow by directing capitals toward manufacturing. If manufacturing works are supported and developed, all the nation will benefit from a better economic situation and the job opportunities which it creates.

No Time to Waste: One of the difficulties is that we have not been keeping pace with the advancements in technology in line with offering the best services to the customers. We have to move as quickly as possible toward the mechanization of the banking processes and services. In today’s world we cannot live in isolation: We always need the outside world and the world always needs us.
The fact is that we are still operating within a centralized framework in which managers do not have a high maneuver power. What we need is, as I said above, a private banking culture to help the creativity flourish within the organization. I believe if the banking systems are designed in a way to be dynamic, many economic problems of the nation will be resolved.

Setting Targets: Banks could direct public capitals toward manufacturing works and this will solve such problems as unemployment, inflation, dependence on oil revenues, etc.
Regarding the industry, for example, we import machinery and export products to the world. All such transactions have to be done through the banking system. The world has had an eye-catching progress in this field and we have to benefit from the achievements of others. We should adopt the models which have proven to be successful in other countries and “localize” them based on our social, political, cultural and ideological situation. I cannot say when we can reach the desired targets in the banking system, but I can say we have been moving in the direction to achieve those objectives. The first condition to this is that the Central Bank has to enjoy more independence and the banking system should also be allowed to act within a general framework.