Regulation
|3 min ReadIran’s Ayandeh Bank collapses, 42 million customers hit
Tariq Al-Saidi
Senior Analyst
Published
Jan 16, 2026
$8 billion in losses and debts sink a private giant
One of Iran’s largest private lenders, Ayandeh Bank, has gone bankrupt after piling up around $8 billion in losses and debt. Its customer assets — belonging to more than 42 million people — will now be absorbed by the state-owned Bank Melli, ending the bank’s 13-year run.
According to Iran International, Ayandeh’s books showed 3 billion in debt before the Central Bank of Iran gave up on a rescue plan. The collapse came days after the central bank’s intervention failed, forcing regulators to shut down the lender and transfer its 270 branches nationwide to Bank Melli.
Local outlet Iran News Update reported that the failure affected over 42 million customers, making it one of the largest banking collapses in the country’s history.
Central Bank Governor Mohammad Reza Farzin told depositors they could recover their savings “immediately,” but the damage is already done. The collapse renewed fears about Iran’s fragile financial system — where private banks lend aggressively, run on fractional reserves, and depend on government bailouts when liquidity runs dry.
Echoes of Bitcoin’s origin and global bank stress
The crisis reminded many of the message buried in Bitcoin’s genesis block, referencing the UK government’s 2008 bank bailouts — a symbol of distrust in the traditional banking model. Failures like Ayandeh’s are exactly what Satoshi Nakamoto sought to escape.
Iran’s meltdown also mirrors events abroad. In early 2023, the U.S. saw Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank, and Silvergate Bank collapse in quick succession, triggering a flight to Bitcoin that sent prices from under 29,000 within a month.
Even now, regional U.S. banks remain under pressure. A recent Morningstar report, cited by Reuters, found many are still showing financial stress despite larger reserves and higher deposits since 2023.
Eight more Iranian banks on the brink
Iran’s broader banking system has been hollowed out by years of sanctions, which cut access to international networks and restrict dollar transactions. The Iranian rial keeps losing value, and confidence in the system keeps fading.
The Central Bank has already warned that eight other lenders could face dissolution if they fail to reform. And the turmoil doesn’t stop there — in June, Iranian exchange Nobitex was hacked for $81 million, contributing to an 11 percent drop in national crypto flows by July amid tensions with Israel.
Iran’s financial sector is now walking a tightrope — squeezed by sanctions, drained by debt, and haunted by a public that no longer trusts its own banks. The fall of Ayandeh may be just the beginning.
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