The “Business in Iran and the Future of FinTech and Banking” conference will take place on 7 and 8 October on Kish Island. The conference is organised by Digital Finance Institute and SanaPay.

Speakers will cover social banking, refugee crisis, bitcoin, Iranian banking regulations, anti-money laundering legislation, microfinance and other subjects, the announcement states. The first day of the conference will open with a panel discussion on ‘Unlocking the potential of bitcoin, digital finance and blockchain tech in Middle East and Africa’.

Speakers include representatives of Unicef, SanaPay, Digital Finance Institute, Axxiome, Hong Kong University, and PayHub solutions. SanaPay is an international multicurrency payment gateway based in Tehera, Iran, with regional offices in Vancouver, Dubai, and Nairobi. SanaPay's e-wallet supports bitcoin transactions.

“The time was right for a Conference on FinTech and innovation for Iran. Iran has a young and well-educated population of 75 million people who live in an increasingly connected world where online commerce and FinTech will play a vital role in the growth of our economy in the next few years,” Majeed Javdani, a prominent international lawyer and the chairman of SanaPay, said.

“The conference will act as a catalyst to start building the FinTech and innovation ecosystem in Iran in partnership with companies from other nations,” he added.

Digital Finance Institute is a not-for-profit organisation that supports the development of digital finance technology and commerce. The Institute is based in Vancouver, Canada. DFI is watching the bitcoin digital currency closely. Last month, the organisation published several articles explaining the potential of bitcoin for the future of financial technologies and listing the advantages and risks of using bitcoin.

“Digital currencies like Bitcoin are a global disruptive technology evolving about five times faster than corporate management or government,” an article by Christine Duhaime, founder and CEO at DFI reads.

At the conference, Duhaime will lead a fireside chat discussion with UNICEF to explore ways of usingFinTech to improve payments to refugees.

“Partnering with Iran’s Sana Pardakht to support the growth of Iran’s FinTech, banking and payments sector provides parallel opportunities for Canada and other countries interested in doing business in Iran and we are pleased to lend our expertise to this ground-breaking event,” Duhaime commented.

Potentially, one of the biggest Asian markets for bitcoin, Iran is still struggling to find a coherent approach towards cryptocurrency. There are almost 50 million Internet users in the country, however until recently online financial facilities available here were but rudimentary. The Iranian government made first moves to develop its policy on bitcoin in 2014, but so far there is no clear indication whether it is going to be prohibitive or permissive.

Aliona Chapel