Swedish Banks Stop Opening Accounts for Iranians
IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK
TEHRAN – Head of Iran-Sweden Joint Chamber of Commerce Abdolreza Rezaie says banking relations with Sweden are almost cut and no Swedish bank opens accounts for Iranians.
Speaking to ILNA, Rezaei said, “There is currently no blocking of Iranian property in Sweden but Swedish banks don’t let the Iranian to open a bank account.”
He said that before the start of the second round of U.S sanctions, main Swedish banks such as SEB Group, the Nordea Bank, a joint Danish-Swedish bank and Swedbank Group, had cooperated with Iran, but has stopped working as sanctions began.
Abdolreza Rezaie pointed to the Swedish–Iranian bilateral trade and said “In 2017, the total trade between Iran and Sweden stood at $ 307 million, of which $ 154 billion in imports and $ 153 billion in exports to Sweden.”
“But in 2019, the volume of our trade has dropped dramatically due to U.S. sanctions, as most companies have reduced their cooperation with Iran to a minimum.”
“For example, we imported the Volvo trucks for years without any problems, but now imports have stopped. Also, although heavy-duty vehicle parts were exempted from sanctions but we are in trouble because of financial transfers.”
Referring to the INSTEX mechanism for trade with Iran, the Head of Iran-Sweden Joint Chamber of Commerce added that Sweden is one of the six countries that recently joined the financial mechanism, but this mechanism is more of a symbolic gesture rather than an economic initiative.
He also said that exports of Volvo trucks to Iran have come to a halt, adding that Iran has no problem for imports of parts for heavy vehicles but because of banking problems, it cannot import parts.
