Zoodel the leading B2B marketplace launches its international banking and financial services to facilitate payment transfers to/from Iran.

Zoodel is the leading online B2B marketplace portal in Iran which can facilitate trading needs from/to Iran globally. The company is providing domestic and worldwide sellers/buyers with an online interface that can fulfill their trading needs.

There have been many articles shedding light on the issue of international payment networks which are not connected to the Iranian banking system. This issue has been crippling the SMEs inside the country to operate only domestically. Normally, these SMEs would have to register a company outside of Iran and open up a bank account to be able to do business with the outside world; even then, the problem is not fully solved. And we shouldn’t forget the fact that the whole process is too cumbersome for many of the SMEs inside the country. But Zoodel took the initiative and addressed this issue by launching a new service which has been missing in the Iranian environment for decades. This new service will facilitate trade between Iran and the rest of the world.

Problem:

Covering the demands of Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Transaction (KYT) can be a challenge for banks and banking industry. For smaller banks, pursuing compliance rules and regulations can take up vital time and resources.

A bank’s priority is to be at its client’s full service. But in the current trend, this is a complex issue – particularly for smaller banks. KYC and KYT regulations have become stern and strict, meaning banks must make sure their compliance setups and background researches are satisfactory and up to the required standards.

Why?

The objective of KYC & KYT guidelines is to prevent banks from being used, intentionally or unintentionally, by criminal elements for money laundering activities or bypassing sanctions. Related procedures also enable banks to better understand their customers and their financial dealings. This helps them manage their risks prudently. In doing so, even after parts of OFAC & EU sanctions were lifted by JCPOA, because of the energy and time-consuming job of monitoring Iranian business in their compliance departments, many banks refrain from opening accounts or giving banking services to Iranian entities. According to Reuters, despite the lifting of the sanctions against Iran, world’s big banks have continued to stay away from Iran over the fear of violating the remaining U.S. sanctions. But smaller foreign banks feel less risk, that’s why Iran central bank says 200 banks have established ties with Iran. It appears that they are gradually supporting trade between Iran and Europe for SMEs with respect to international laws. That’s where Zoodel comes in to facilitate this process by providing KYC and KYT of the SMEs to the small international banks.

Zoodel Solution

Now after setting up a financial add-on to its website, Zoodel, helps its clients with easing the complex KYC & KYT procedure by collecting the clients’ documentations and relaying them to banks around the world enabling them to take faster measures in KYC & KYT procedures. In this way, SMEs not only need neither to have the challenge of opening an office in foreign countries to do their financial transactions nor to worry about having tiring and repetitive cross-country travels to negotiate with foreign banks to open accounts, but also they can benefit from having a legally opened account under the international regulations.

The advantages that this solution brings for SMEs are:

• In comparison to money exchangers is less riskier, cheaper and easier
• Safer solution to convince new international customers
• Access to trade advisory services such as LC, SBLC & Project Finance
• No risk according to AML regulations
• Access to foreign technology, raw materials & machineries

Zoodel does everything in respect of law and sanction rules and it will not provide this services to:

• Private persons
• Entities or Persons linked with the US (shareholder, director, beneficial owner, customer, supplier etc.)
• Entities or Persons needing financial/banking services other than for trading from/to Iran
• Entities or Persons included under the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN List)
• Entities or Persons trading in dual-use items – goods, software and technology that can be used for both civilian and military applications and/or can contribute to the proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)
• Customers which are not Zoodel Premium members

By this initiative, Zoodel, will help SMEs with their trading needs and extend their reach at a global level by using international & compliant banking mechanisms.