techrasa- Vice minister of Ministry of Communications and Technology announced at the Iran Transaction Exhibition that a regulation structure will be in place for FinTech startup activities by next month.

Regulatory barriers are always one of the main obstacles for FinTech and HealTech startups. As we also predicted last year that we will be having a FinTech boom in 2016, the boom has started with some other explosions. Regulatory bodies including the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) are struggling to keep up with with fast growing FinTech startups that are popping up like mushrooms. Maintaining the general security in Iran’s digital financial world is an obligation on CBI and Shaparak when it comes to payment and other FinTech activities. Multiple incidents of startups in payment closed down by the CBI and few reopening have been seen over the past few months.

Key functionalities such as P2P money transferring and wiring, Wallet and other TPPP solutions are among the sensitive areas of work which often face difficulty in operations. The main issue is none of these are regulated, meaning it’s not illegal to do activities in this area. This is also does not mean it’s legal. In terms of legal definitions many of these activities do not exist by law. This responsibility is on the CBI’s and other regulatory body’s shoulders to structure regulation frameworks for these companies and also give them more room for innovation rather limiting innovation in the country by narrowing the activity playground of these companies.

Nasrollah Jahangard, the vice minister of Communications and Technology also mentioned at the Iran Transaction exhibition that with the help of the Central Bank of the ministry, a regulation structure for FinTech startups is coming into place by next month according to ITmen. Keep in mind due the fact that the prominent FinTech sector in Iran that is active is payment, any official talking about FinTech usually means startups in payment. Unfortunately, when it comes to new regulations and time promises, the Central Bank hasn’t been the most punctual guy in the neighborhood. The on going talks on shutting down the out dated USSD technology is an example which CBI is prospering every now and then. The question still remains that will there finally be a regulated circle for payment startups to maneuver in by the end of the month?