Bank Refah Kargaran, also known as Bank Refah (in fa, بانک رفاه, ''Bank Refah''), is one of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

's major banks. Bank Refah, with its headquarters in

Tehran, Iran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most pop ...

, is a retail commercial bank owned and controlled by Social Security Organization of Iran. Bank Refah provides a full range of products and services to more than a million clients. Its

SWIFT Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIFT, ...

address is REFAIRTH.

History

The workers' bank

Bank Refah was established in 1960 to provide basic banking services to the Iranian workers. Those services included collection of insurance premiums, payment of salaries and pensions, mortgages and personal loans. Bank Refah was categorized as a non-commercial bank until it was nationalized in 1979 less than a year after the Islamic Revolution. With the Nationalization law passed by the Islamic

Majlis of Iran The Islamic Consultative Assembly ( fa, مجلس شورای اسلامی, Majles-e Showrā-ye Eslāmī), also called the Iranian Parliament, the Iranian Majles (Arabicised spelling Majlis) or ICA, is the national legislative body of Iran. The P ...

, the bank's ownership was transferred to the government. It was also recategorized as a commercial bank.

Ownership

In accordance with article 39 of

's 1959 fiscal budget, Bank Refah's initial capital was 400,000,000 Iranian Rials (just over US$5.7 million) fully funded by the Iranian

Social Security Organization The Social Security Organization (SSO) is a social insurance organization in Iran which provides coverage of wage-earners and salaried workers as well as voluntary coverage of self-employed persons. In 1975, the laws Social Security Law was app ...

. Although the bank was nationalized in 1979, its management was returned to the Social Welfare Organization (now known as the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs) in 1993. In March 2001, the bank's capital was raised to Rls 1,961 Billion (approximately US$250M) of which close to 94 percent was paid by the Iranian Social Security Organization. The bank currently owns a subsidiary in

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

, known as Onerbank

Sanctions

On 6 September 2013, the

European General Court The General Court, informally known as the European General Court (EGC), is a constituent court of the Court of Justice of the European Union. It hears actions taken against the institutions of the European Union by individuals and member stat ...

in Luxembourg ruled to annul the European Union sanctions in place since 2010 against the bank on grounds of supporting the Iranian nuclear and missile programs, as the EU had failed to explain the reasons for the sanctions. > As of 2016, the EU asset freeze was still in effect.

Islamic banking

All banks in

must follow the banking principles and practices described in the Islamic banking law of

passed in 1983 by the Islamic

. According to this law, banks can only engage in

interest In finance and economics, interest is payment from a borrower or deposit-taking financial institution to a lender or depositor of an amount above repayment of the principal sum (that is, the amount borrowed), at a particular rate. It is distin ...

-free Islamic transactions (

is considered as

usury Usury () is the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans that unfairly enrich the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is c ...

riba The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

and is forbidden by Islam and the holy book of

Quran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , s ...

). These are commercial transactions that involve exchange of goods and services in return for a share of the assumed "profit". All such transactions are performed through Islamic

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tr ...

s, such as ''Mozarebe'', ''Foroush Aghsati'', ''Joale'', ''Salaf'', and ''Gharzol-hassane''. Details of these contracts and related practices are outlined in the Iranian Interest-Free banking law and its guidelines. In July 2007 the

bank A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

launched a new banking service named "Gold Coins Deposit Account". Through this new service, Bank Refah's customers can deposit their gold coins into a special deposit account and in return receive points, which they can then redeem against future loans and credits. The launch of this unique deposit account, which received high publicity in the

ian

media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass e ...

, was marked by a presidential speech by the

ian

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The bank's CEO Peyman Nouri announced in March 2007 that his bank has been authorized by the

Central Bank of Iran The Central Bank of Iran (CBI), also known as ''Bank Markazi'', officially the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran ( fa, بانک مرکزی جمهوری اسلامی ايران, Bank Markazi-ye Jomhuri-ye Eslāmi-ye Irān; SWIFT Code: B ...

to issue international

credit card A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...

Financial numbers

June 16, 2010 ($1 UD is approximately 10,400 ranian RialRls) ): *Total assets = Rls 41,453 billion *

Capitalization Capitalization (American English) or capitalisation (British English) is writing a word with its first letter as a capital letter (uppercase letter) and the remaining letters in lower case, in writing systems with a case distinction. The term ...

= Rls 895 billion *Total income = Rls 1,614 billion *Total loans = Rls 29,441 billion *Total deposits (short and long term) = Rls 25,719 billion *Number of branches = 1128 *Number of employees = 9570 * Market share = 6.8% of total deposits and 5% of total loans

Current CEO and directors

* Dr.Esmaeel Lalegani , CEO * Farshid Farokhnejad * Nejat Amini * Ali Sarzaeim * Hamidreza Fathi Beiranvand

Previous CEOs

* Mohammad Ali Sahmani * Ali Sedghi * Jafar Safaei Mazid * Esmaeel lalehgani * MohammadJavad MohagheghNia * Farshid FarokhNegad

Significant buildings

* Valiasr Building — 2584 Valiasr Ave, Tehran *Pardis Building — 40 Shiraz Shomali, Tehran

Payment Received controversial CEO

In June 2016 CEO of the bank's earnings news release (Ali Sidqi) by a news site about the rights and benefits administrators led to frequent controversy and debate.

Information technology

Bank Refah established its first Data Processing department in early 1970s. The Data Processing department was equipped with a small IBM 370 Mainframe computer, which was mainly used for

batch processing Computerized batch processing is a method of running software programs called jobs in batches automatically. While users are required to submit the jobs, no other interaction by the user is required to process the batch. Batches may automatically ...

of deposit and

mortgage A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law jurisdicions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners to raise funds for any ...

accounts. The

's IT department was later dissolved in 1976 and its staff were moved to the IT division of the

ian Social Security Organization (ISSO). At the time Electronic Data Systems (EDS) was developing a social security application for ISSO and was also managing ISSO's data center. After the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dyna ...

in 1978, the agreement with ISSO (and EDS) was terminated. Bank Refah stopped using ISSO data center and reverted to manual processing. All business units and

bank branch A branch, banking center or financial center is a retail location where a bank, credit union, or other financial institution (including a brokerage firm) offers a wide array of face-to-face and automated services to its customers. History and ...

es were instructed to set up paper-based customer and account ledgers. A few years later in 1988, then CEO of the

, Mohammad Hossein Kazemi Namin, purchased the first

Personal Computer A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or tec ...

for the bank. He then hired a group of IT professionals and re-established the data processing division. A year later, he made a significant investment and purchased an IBM 4381 Mainframe computer from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Since then, the

's IT division has purchased, developed and implemented several small and large computers and software packages. However, despite the efforts, its IT infrastructure and systems are well behind modern

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

and regional

s. Lack of skilled IT resources, unavailability of high speed

data In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete Value_(semiotics), values that convey information, describing quantity, qualitative property, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of sy ...

lines, insufficient investment, poor IT leadership and foreign sanctions have contributed to the slow progress of data processing in the

ian banks and Bank Refah hasn't been an exception. In the spring of 2007, Bank Refah opened its first unmanned branch in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

with two ATM's and four

information Information is an abstract concept that refers to that which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level information pertains to the interpretation of that which may be sensed. Any natural process that is not completely random ...

kiosks. This

is located at Galoobandak in the vicinity of

Tehran's Grand Bazaar The Grand Bazaar ( fa, بازار بزرگ ) is an old historical bazaar in Tehran, Iran. It is split into several corridors over in length, each specializing in different types of goods, and has several entrances, with Sabze-Meydan being the m ...

. Bank Refah has installed over 500

Automated Teller Machine An automated teller machine (ATM) or cash machine (in British English) is an electronic telecommunications device that enables customers of financial institutions to perform financial transactions, such as cash withdrawals, deposits, fun ...

s (ATM) across its branches in Tehran and other cities. The ATM network is connected to the

ian Shetab network allowing customers to withdraw cash from any ATM in the country.

References

External links

Bank Refah Official website

ArchNetIranian Oral History Project, Harvard UniversityIran's Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs Web site
{{banks of Iran Banks of Iran Banks established in 1960 Iranian brands Iranian companies established in 1960