DUBAI�When Majid Zamani launched his investment bank in Iran in 2011, the timing couldn�t have been worse: Fresh sanctions that year crippled the domestic economy and isolated the country internationally.

Four years later, the founder of Tehran-based Kardan Investment Bank said he faces an altogether different problem. Overseas interest in Iran�s financial services has skyrocketed in the wake of the nuclear deal, leaving an overstretched staff to deal with queries from all the prospective partners.

�Now we have so many meetings with foreign investors we don�t have time to conduct our normal business,� he said.

Largely absent from the global finance scene during the sanctions era, Iranian banks and investment houses are beginning to take calls, schedule meetings and discuss partnerships with potential foreign counterparts who see potential for investment in Iran after last month�s nuclear deal. But while there has been an upsurge in foreign interest, Iranian banks are trying to shake off the rust of operating in a market cut off from the global financial system.

�We desperately need investment,� said Parviz Aghili, chief executive of Tehran�s Middle East Bank, one of the country�s privately owned institutions. �For 37 years [since the Iranian revolution] Iran has been isolated and secluded while the world has developed. There is so much to be done.�

Read more here