Austria's Oberbank and Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) are now connected to Iranian banks a senior trade official has said.

Chairman of Tehran Chamber of Commerce (TCC), Masoud Khansari, said that the two Austrian banks have started opening letters of credit (L/Cs) for transactions with Iran.

Smaller banks

Khansari's announcement in Tehran coincided with talks between TCC officials and a visiting trade delegation from the Austrian region of Carinthia.

The TCC chairman also said that several Swiss banks are now connected to the Iranian banking system.

Other reports suggest that Belgium's KBC Bank, Germany's DZ Bank, and Austria's Erste Bank have started handling Iranian transactions.

Major absentees

Khansari said that although smaller European banks are now active in Iran, major European banks have not yet re-engaged with Iran's financial sector.

US banks are stilled barred from writing L/C business with Iran until Washington removes US sanctions.

In September 2015, Austrian companies signed a number of agreements with Iranian partners at an economic forum in Tehran to become the first western firms seen to be proactively re-engaging with the Islamic Republic since it agreed to scale back its nuclear ambitions in return for an easing of economic sanctions.

This article represents the views of the author and not necessarily those of the ICC or any of the other partners in DC-PRO.