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Banks Dropping Accounts for Licensed Iranian Exporters Over Sanctions Worries
By Brian Monroe
printAt least 10 large domestic and international banks have dropped the accounts maintained for dozens of companies that sell agricultural and medical products to Iran through U.S. Treasury Department licenses. In the past year, and particularly in the three months following the passage of additional U.S. sanctions against Iran, financial institutions have been increasingly reticent to maintain accounts for the companies, which are exempted from certain trade restrictions with Iranian businesses, according to attorneys who represent the U.S. firms. The banks have decided that the "profits from processing letters of credit and other transactions is not worth the added compliance...
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