UANI

"In response, Rabobank and Société Générale say they have stopped servicing Iran deals or curbed their trade finance. According to Iranian trade professionals, Korea's Woori Bank and Industrial Bank of Korea have done the same. The Korean banks could not be reached for comment." (The Wall Street Journal, "Willing Banks Find Profits in Legal Trade With Iran," 4/8/2012) 

--

Woori Bank is the lending unit of South Korea's third-largest financial company, the state-owned Woori Finance Holdings Co. The firm is currently undergoing privatization negotiations and came under investigation for fraud during the summer of 2010. (Businessweek).

In October 2010, Woori Bank, along with Industrial Bank of Korea, have been appointed by the South Korean government to "finance legitimate trade with Iran in sectors unaffected by sanctions, channelled through Iran's central bank." The deal will allow Iran's central bank to deposit oil proceeds in Woori Bank, which will then use the funds to pay South Korean firms exporting to Iran. South Korean trade to Iran amounts to $10 billion annually. A Woori Bank spokesman explained that "Iran's central bank is not the target of sanctions, so transactions through the bank are legal. We do not worry about any possibly sanctinons by the US against us" (Financial Times).