| Iran Venezuela Bi-National Bank | |
| Type: | JV |
| Industry: | Financial services |
| Founders: | Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chávez |
| Key People: | Mohammad Ghazaei Pakdehi |
| Hq Location City: | Tehran |
| Hq Location Country: | Iran |
| Num Locations: | 1 |
| Footnotes: | Annual Report Fiscal Year (2016–2017)[1] |
Iran-Venezuela Bi-National Bank (Persian: بانک مشترک ایران و ونزوئلا, Bank Moshtarek-e Iran vâ Vânuzuilâ, Spanish; Castilian: Banco Binacional Irán-Venezuela) is an international financial institution that was founded in 2010 with an aim to develop commercial ties between Iran and Venezuela.[2]
Out of the 40 banks legally licensed to operate in Iran, the Iran-Venezuela Bi-National Bank is one of the only five foreign banks to make that list.[3]
It started as a joint venture between two state-owned banks, Banco Industrial de Venezuela and Export Development Bank of Iran with a starting capital of $200 million offered equally by both parties.[4]
In September 2013, the United States Department of the Treasury imposed sanction on the bank.[5] In 2015, an official in the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran told press that "[the] bank is not given much freedom" and it is being managed one-sidedly by Iran, because the Venezuelan side does not participate in the general assemblies.[6] By 2016, the Iranian side was willing to sell its share.[7] In 2018, the US reimposed sanctions on the bank.[8]
In July 2020, Iran officials announced the Iran-Venezuela Bi-National Bank would enter the Tehran Stock Exchange by March 2021 (17% to be floated on the stock market).[9]