Bankruptcy of a branch of an Iranian state-owned bank in Germany

The German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) said that a German branch of Iran’s state-owned Bank Sepah has declared bankruptcy following sanctions. Reuters quoted the authority as saying, “The bank is no longer able to repay its customers’ deposits.” The bank’s Frankfurt branch did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The authority said the German branch had lost access to the European payment system due to European Union sanctions on Bank Sepah. It added that a court in Frankfurt had appointed an insolvency administrator, emphasizing that the bank was not systemically important, with total assets of 50 million euros ($58.20 million) and only 11 depositors, meaning there was “no threat to financial stability.”