Subsidiary | |
Industry | Bank |
Founded | 1960 |
Headquarters | Tehran, Iran |
Key people
|
Peyman Borojerdi, chief executive officer |
Products |
Retail banking Transaction accounts Insurance Stock Brokerage Investment bank Asset-based lending Consumer finance Trade International payments Foreign exchange |
1.64 Billion IRR (2010) | |
Total assets | 45.41 Billion IRR (2010) |
Number of employees
|
9570(full-time) |
Parent | Social Security Organization |
Website | www.refah-bank.ir |
Bank Refah Kargaran, also known as Bank Refah (in Persian: بانک رفاه), is one of Iran's major banks. Bank Refah, with its headquarters in Tehran, Iran, 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 address is REFAIRTH.
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 bank's ownership was transferred to the government. It was also recategorized as a commercial bank.
In accordance with article 39 of Iran'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. 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, known as Onerbank
On 6 September 2013, the European General Court 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.