– Aiming at expanding its Euro-based interactions, the head of the Securities and Exchange Organization of Iran announced the consideration of launching Euro dealt Kish International Iran Stock Exchange within the next 2 months in the exchange High Council; this market is to host foreign companies, mostly from countries with less cooperation with the US, including adjacent neighbors and European trade partners as well as domestic players.
– Today a new piece of corporate Sukuk is to going to be underwritten on Iran Fara Bourse. The new Ijarah Sukuk securities will be issued by Saba Naft construction and engineering Co and have a nominal yield of 15%. With a maturity of 48 months and coupon frequency of 3 times per year (quarterly), SN1Q1 securities worth IRR 920 bn (cUSD 21.9 mn).
– A banking official stated that charging higher fees on banking services (mostly transactions of POS, etc.) can lead to lowering interest rates on granted facilities; in fact, he said that in case this process continues for 3 years, the interest rate might come down to 14% and the rate on facilities would also reduce to below 10% in Iranian banking sector. The current imbalanced situation for on-account risk-free deposit rate (20%) and banking facilities (around 28%) led most banks to their incompetence.
– The Securities and Exchange Organization (SEO) of Iran’s Issuers Supervision Division released the free float index of listed companies on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) and Iran Fara Bourse (IFB) for the one-year period ended March 20th. Over the said period, 7 new companies entered Iran Stock Exchange, including HiWeb, Omid Investment Bank and Shafa Pharmaceutical with their free float rates standing at 6.4%, 3.58% and 0.59%; this event, however, could not exert any significant effect on the total free float index and its average remained in the 20% area. The following table shows the highest and lowest ratios among the first 10 listed companies:
– Aiming at improving their financial status by getting rid of their excess assets and cutting their costs, the Central Bank of Iran’s latest report proves a 0.3% decline in Iranian banks’ branches (to stand at 20,723) at the end of previous year (March 21st) in comparison with the prior year.
– The 11th Iran FINEX (financial exhibition) is to take place from tomorrow until Thursday, Mar 19, 2018, on Tehran International exhibition premises with the participation of 392 domestic and foreign finance-related firms. Big international names like EY, Capital Intelligence, Incentage and Alpari group are to not only have booths in Iran FINEX but also carry out educational workshops for Iranian attendees.
– After the other day’s news on USD/IRR Unification, the Central Bank of Iran changed the scheme of Iranian gold coin pre-sales. Following the administration’s decision to return stability to currency and gold markets, CBI’s chair announced that the pre-sale of “Bahar Azadi” coins shall be in line with the following table:
– Treasury Department of Iranian government announced the issuance of Sukuk Musharaka (on Iran Debt Market) worth IRR 2,000 bn (cUSD 42.03 mn) capitalizing the fast tracks (high-speed train) between Tehran, Qom and Isfahan provinces. These securities will be issued with a nominal yield of 20%, a maturity of 4 years and semi-annual coupon payments. The below table shows the latest status of Iranian debt market as of March 28, 2018.
– Following the policies to expand the scope of Iran Debt Market and providing Iranian companies with proper finances via debt securities, a new wave of corporate and governmental Sukuks are to be published soon on Iran Fara Bourse and Tehran Stock Exchange (see description below):
– According to the Central Bank of Iran’s (CBI) statistics, the government’s tax income has surpassed its oil revenue of Iran’s Economy by IRR 76,000 in the first 10 months of the current year. In this regard, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance released a plan to revive the country’s current tax system in 2018/19 which contains 3 new tax bases as well as organizing tax exemption schemes mostly through lowering its ceiling in free trade zones and agriculture sector among other things.