All Russian banks and more than 100 banks in several countries have joined Iran's financial telecommunication system known as SEPAM, eliminating the need for the international interbank system SWIFT, Mohsen Karimi, deputy governor of the Central Bank of Iran for international affairs, told Tasnim.

According to Karimi, Iranian banks no longer need SWIFT to carry out financial transactions.

The deputy governor of the Central Bank of Iran noted that all banks throughout Russia, all branches of Russian banks in other countries that have access to the SPS (financial messaging system, the Russian equivalent of the financial transfer system SWIFT), and 106 non-Russian banks in 13 countries are now connected to SEPAM.

Because Russia's SPFS was linked to Iran's SEPAM, anyone with access to the Russian network can now connect to Iranian banks, and vice versa, he added.

As Karimi explained, messages between SEPAM and SPFS are sent based on SWIFT standards.

In October 2022, Rustam Zhiganshin, Russia's trade representative in Iran, announced plans to launch an analogue of the international interbank information and payment system SWIFT between Russia and Iran.

Trade and economic ties between Russia and Iran are currently developing. From January to July 2022, bilateral trade increased 44.9% year-on-year to $2.8 billion, according to Iranian media.