[2] This started to change in 2005, when Parsian's managing director, Abdollah Talebi, refused to give Mohammad Shariatmadari (head of the powerful Setade Ejraiye Farmane Emam foundation at the time), an unsecured $44 million loan (Shariatmadari had offered no collateral for the loan).

According to Saeed Laylaz, economic and political observer in Tehran, "One reason for Ahmadinejad's antagonism to Parsian Bank was that he thought the bank was owned by the family of Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, his main rival in the presidential elections.

After Ahmadinejad took office, Abdollah Talebi [Parsian CEO], an outspoken reformist, sent a list of the shareholders to the President to prove that was untrue.

[1]Subsequently, according to Reuters, Tadbir Investment Co, (a subsidiary of Setad) acquired a small stake in Parsian and despite being a minority owner transformed the bank, bringing in new managers and among other things eliminating the lacks dress code.

[2] On 19 September, 1.44 million shares of the bank traded on the Tehran Stock Exchange.