Iran launches new financial monitoring systems

Iran’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) has introduced two new digital platforms designed to enhance the country’s financial monitoring capabilities amid ongoing international banking restrictions.

The systems, named SAMAM and SABA, aim to improve detection and analysis of suspicious financial transactions whilst strengthening anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing measures.

SAMAM functions as a centralised monitoring tool that collects and processes financial transaction data from institutions across the country. The platform utilises artificial intelligence to identify unusual patterns and applies a risk-based scoring system to prioritise cases requiring further investigation. Analysts can access specialised dashboards to evaluate potential threats more efficiently.

Complementing this effort, SABA serves as a data repository and analytics platform containing over one billion records across more than 600 categories. The system integrates information from 32 services provided by 15 different government and judicial organisations, enabling comprehensive cross-referencing of financial activities.

The launch comes against a backdrop of extensive international banking sanctions that have isolated Iran from much of the global financial system for years. Since 2018, when the United States withdrew from the nuclear deal and reimposed comprehensive sanctions, Iranian banks have been largely cut off from SWIFT, the international banking communication system, severely limiting cross-border transactions.

These new monitoring systems could potentially address some concerns raised by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which has placed Iran on its blacklist of high-risk jurisdictions with significant deficiencies in combating money laundering and terrorist financing. Improving these capabilities might represent one step towards the technical compliance needed for reintegration into global financial networks, though political obstacles remain substantial.

Financial monitoring experts note that the implementation of these technologies represents a significant upgrade to Iran’s financial intelligence infrastructure. The systems are expected to increase transparency and improve the speed at which authorities can identify and respond to suspicious financial activities, which could be particularly important given the complex financial workarounds that have emerged in response to sanctions.

The FIU has not provided specific details regarding implementation timelines or the full scope of institutions that will be connected to these platforms.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​