Financial Tribune - The governor of the Central Bank of Iran on Monday urged lenders to tap into the stock market to divest shares and get rid of their non-financial assets.

In a directive to CEO of banks and credit institutions, Abdolnasser Hemmati instructed them to use the opportunity created by the growing tendency among the public to invest in stocks, CBI�s website reported.

Lenders are under mounting government pressure to end their controversial non-banking activities by getting rid of expensive real estate and surplus holdings.

Authorities in Tehran estimate that non-financial assets of lenders to be worth 1,000 trillion rials ($6.3 billion). The assets have piled up mainly due to impaired loans, bad debts, settlement of government debts to banks, closure of branches and disastrous investments.