Iranians to use Asian credit cards soon

Iran says it is preparing the grounds for its nation to use credit cards provided by Asian banks until the restrictions for using American payment operators like Visa and MasterCard are removed.

The country’s media have quoted an official with the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) as saying that negotiations to the same effect are currently underway with Japan Credit Bureau (JBC) as well as China UnionPay (CUP).

Davood Mohammad-Beigi, the CBI director for payment affairs, has told been quoted as saying that JCB and CUP cards will be available to the Iranians before September.

Mohammad-Beigi has further emphasized that the CBI is determined to bring the global credit card payment systems into the country, stressing that the related technical talks on the same front have been going on with international suppliers for the past five months.

The official added that certain steps have also been planned to prepare the infrastructure required for using international credit cards in Iran, including connecting the domestic banking payment transfer systems to overseas payment networks like the ones that Visa and MasterCard are using.

Mohammad-Beigi said the conditions for using Visa and MasterCard services are not prepared yet. This, he added, is because both are US enterprises and are still subject to the sanctions that the US government has put in place in dealing with Iran.

The legal department of the CBI is nonetheless preparing to take actions to remove the obstacles that are hindering Visa and MasterCard from operating in Iran in light of the openings that have been created after the January removal of anti-Iran sanctions, Mohammad-Beigi emphasized.