Imperial Bank of Persia

The Imperial Bank of Persia, sometimes known as Bank Shahi, was a British bank founded in 1889 that played a central role in the financial history of late Qajar Iran, legally established in London under British law with the bulk of its operations based in Tehran under a concession originally granted by the Qajar government to Paul Julius Reuter. It served as Persia's main bank of issue until that role passed to Bank Melli Iran in 1932, and it introduced European financial practices to a country where they had previously been unknown, opening its first branch in Tehran in December 1889. Following Iran's political changes it was renamed the Imperial Bank of Iran in 1935 and then the British Bank of Iran and the Middle East in 1949 after expanding elsewhere in the Middle East; its Iranian operations ended in August 1952, with part of its former business becoming Bank Bazargani, while its remaining activity was renamed British Bank of the Middle East, purchased by HSBC in 1959 and renamed HSBC Bank Middle East in 1999.