Iranian Entity: Bank Sepah

Army Bank

Fifth largest Iranian state-owned bank; listed by the British government in 2007 as an entity of potential concern for WMD-related procurement; listed in an annex to U.N. Security Council Resolution 1747 of March 24, 2007, as an entity involved in Iran's nuclear or ballistic missile activities; with some exceptions, the U.N. designation requires states to freeze the financial assets on their territories which are owned or controlled by the entity, by its agents, or by entities it controls; the U.N. designation also requires states to ensure that funds, financial assets or economic resources are prevented from being made available by their nationals or by any persons or entities within their territories, to or for the benefit of the entity; added to the Specially Designated National (SDN) list maintained by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on January 9, 2007, freezing its assets under U.S. jurisdiction and prohibiting transactions with U.S. parties, pursuant to Executive Order 13382, which targets proliferators of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and their delivery systems; described by the U.S. Treasury Department as the "bank of choice" of Iran's Aerospace Industries Organization (AIO - see separate entity record), which was designated by the U.S. Treasury Department in 2005 pursuant to U.S. Executive Order 13382; according to the U.S. Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, arranges financing and processes multi-million dollar transactions for AIO and its subordinates, and serves as a provider of key financial services to AIO subsidiaries Shahid Hemmat Industries Group (SHIG - see separate entity record) and Shahid Bakeri Industries Group (SBIG) (Shahid Bagheri Industrial Group - see separate entity record); according to the U.S. Treasury Department, SHIG is responsible for the Shahab series of medium range ballistic missiles developed with help from China and North Korea, and SBIG produces the Fateh-100 missile and the Fajr rocket systems; both SHIG and SBIG were listed in an annex to U.N. Security Council resolution 1737 of December 23, 2006, as entities involved in Iran's ballistic missile program; described by the U.S. Treasury Department as a "financial conduit" for acquiring sensitive materials for Iran's missile program from abroad; according to the U.S. Treasury Department, in 2005 financed the sale of missile related items from a Chinese firm to Iran and transferred more than $500,000 on behalf of AIO to a North Korean firm associated with the Korea Mining Development Trading Bureau (KOMID - see separate entity record), which has been described by the U.S. Treasury's Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence as "North Korea's chief ballistic missile-related exporter;" operates 1,691 domestic branches, three branches abroad in Paris, Rome and Frankfurt am Main, and one wholly-owned subsidiary, Bank Sepah International Plc (see separate entity record), in London; "affiliated companies" include Omid Investment Management Company (OIM Co) and Bank Sepah Brokerage Company (BSB Co); together with OIM Co and BSB Co, owns 62.46% of outstanding shares of the Sepah Investment Company; Chairman of the Board of Directors and Managing Director is Ahmad Derakhshandeh (see separate entity record); Swift Bank Code for Bank Sepah in Iran is SEPB IR TH; established in 1925.