The Iranian financial market is a fully-fledged Islamic financial system. Traditionally, it is a bank-based market

in which the majority of financing is offered by either government or private banks: three commercial and five

specialized government-owned banks, 20 non-government-owned banks, two Gharzolhasaneh (Qard Hasan)

banks, one binational bank and five non-bank credit institutions that operate under the Interest-Free Banking Act

since early 1984.