Trade and investment company of Eghtesad Novin Bank will be soon launched in Dubai and its money change agent will also be opened in Dubai

Eghtesad Novin Bank inaugurated its 85th branch in the presence of its managing director, Dr. Rasoulof.

During the ceremony, Rasoulof said that the number of EN Bank’s branches will reach 110 by Eid al-Ghadir (January 8, 2007) and will reach 150 by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (ending March 20, 2007).

He added that according to the bank’s plan, the number of branches will hit 300 by the end of the Iranian year 1387 (March 2009). Rasoulof said, "The main goal of the bank is to expand electronic banking services for its customers."

"Eghtesad Novin Bank operated only 16 automated teller machines (ATMs) in 1384 (2005-06) with no points of sales (POS) installed. However, the bank is currently operating 120 ATMs and 20,000 POS and the latter will increase to 50,000 by the end of the current (Iranian calendar) year," he said.

The managing director of Eghtesad Novin Bank further noted that EN Bank has issued about 4,000 bank cash cards in 2005, which has increased to 450,000 and will hit 1,000,000 cash cards by the year-end.

He also noted that credit cards will be presented during Ten Day Dawn Celebrations (February 1-11, 2007), adding, "Eghtesad Novin Bank has embarked, for the first time among Iran’s private banks, to draw lots for interest-free Gharz-ol-Hassaneh accounts to promote usury-free banking."

The managing director of EN Bank stated that the bank will grant facilities to producers and entrepreneurs.

"Eghtesad Novin Bank has disbursed about 20,000 billion rials of facilities during the first nine months of the year and the figure is projected to hit 30,000 billion rials by the end of year," he said.

Rasoulof noted that deposits with EN Bank have grown by 14,000 billion rials during nine months of the year, increasing overall deposits of the bank to 25,000 billion rials.

"During the first nine months of the current year, 500 million dollars of credit lines have been opened with Eghtesad Novin Bank, most of which pertained to essential commodities and production units," he said.

Rasoulof added that an independent bank called "Developmental Cooperation and Regional Investment Bank" will be opened in Iraq, saying, "The first branch of the bank will be opened at the beginning of the new Christian year in Baghdad and 10 more branches will be launched in other Iraqi cities within the next year."

He said that 53 percent of the bank’s stocks will be owned by EN Bank, 20 percent by Agriculture Bank (Bank Keshavarzi), and the remaining 27 percent of stocks will belong to legal and real entities. The managing director also noted that EN Bank is planning to purchase more banks in Indonesia and Kyrgyzstan.

Regarding issuance of deposit certificates by Eghtesad Novin Bank, Rasoulof said, "Thus far, such certificates have been issued in three stages at an interest rate of 16 percent. More certificates worth 1,000 billion rials will be released before the year-end."

"Trade and investment company of Eghtesad Novin Bank will be soon launched in Dubai and its money change agent will also be opened in Dubai," he said.