Central Bank: Iran's Bank Accounts to Be Nearly Halved Within Two Years

Hemmati, the governor of Iran's Central Bank, said on Sunday, 4 October 2026, at the unveiling of the Surplus Bank Account Management System (HESAM), that the country currently has about 650 million bank accounts and that the plan is to gradually reduce this number to 300 million over roughly two years. According to Mehr News Agency, the HESAM system lets customers review and remotely resolve surplus accounts. A day later, on Monday, 5 October 2026, the Central Bank said a review of accounts flagged by the system found 73 percent had recorded no transactions in the past month.