Germany's financial regulator, BaFin, announced on Thursday 22 October 2026 that the Hamburg branch of the Islamic Republic's Bank Saderat has lost its banking licence and must be wound up. According to the regulator, the branch, which operated in Hamburg and Frankfurt, may no longer conduct any banking business.
BaFin cited repeated breaches of banking law and the failure to remedy shortcomings, the findings of a 2023 special audit that uncovered serious flaws in the bank's business organisation, more than six months of inactivity, and the sanctions against the bank. Under German banking law, the managers of a sanctioned bank are deemed unreliable regardless of their personal conduct.
How Bank Saderat's licence was revoked and its liquidation ordered in Germany
BaFin revoked the branch's licence on 5 November 2025, and the decision became final on 8 December of that year. The move came a few weeks after the reinstatement of international sanctions against the Islamic Republic on 29 September 2025 (the snapback mechanism), which restored financial restrictions and asset freezes on the Islamic Republic's banks.
The liquidation order was issued on 11 June 2026 and became final on 15 July. The bank initially appealed, but withdrew its complaint on 23 September. On 30 September the Hamburg district court appointed the Berlin-based firm FUW Treuhand Projekt Management as liquidator.
The branch had operated in Germany since 1962, and its main business was financing and processing payments for Iranian exports, from letters of credit to loans and guarantees. According to BaFin, at the end of 2025 the branch had 13 employees and assets of 62.4 million euros. About 200,000 euros in customer deposits remain there, and any payout from them is possible only with the authorisation of the Bundesbank's financial sanctions service centre.
European pressure on the Islamic Republic's banking network
The liquidation of the Hamburg branch is the latest step in the dismantling of the Islamic Republic's banking network abroad. Last month (September) BaFin declared the German branch of Bank Sepah insolvent, and last week Lebanon's central bank also revoked Bank Saderat's licence in Lebanon. Documents from Germany's financial regulator had earlier revealed an attempt by a network linked to the Islamic Republic to buy a German bank on behalf of Bank Shahr.
The Hamburg branch of Bank Melli, however, remains open despite EU sanctions. Germany's Foreign Ministry said in August that the sanctions apply to it as well, but has announced no decision on closing it. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in a plan launched in August, has called for all of Bank Melli's foreign branches to be shut.
The building of Bank Saderat's Hamburg branch was also hit by four gunshots on 5 October, and the state's security police took over the investigation.
A branch that for 64 years served as the Islamic Republic's financial bridge in Germany is being dismantled by order of the country's financial regulator.
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