SAMA announces the licensing of 2 payment companies

By Edil Corneille

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA), the central bank of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has licensed 2 payments companies – Alinma Payments and Sure Payments. This brings the total number of payment companies licensed by the corporation in the financial technology sector to date to eight companies, in addition to 2 companies obtaining initial approval.

The step complements the efforts of the Monetary Agency in the framework of enhancing the payments activity and pushing towards improving the services provided in the financial sector. The decision came based on the competence of the Monetary Agency to license, control and supervise the payments sector in the Kingdom, and in accordance with the powers granted to it which aims to provide a regulatory framework that supports innovation in the payments and financial technologies sector.

SAMA confirmed its continuous endeavour to support the payments sector system and financial technologies, raise the level of effectiveness and flexibility of financial transactions, in addition to enhancing innovation in the financial services provided, in accordance with best practices and to ensure the stability of the financial sector. This is in alignment with the aspirations of the financial sector development program, one of the programs of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

The number of registered customers in e-wallet applications has reached more than four million, and the capital investment by companies licensed to provide payment services has exceeded more than half a billion riyals since the beginning of the issuance of the regulations in 2020. In a press release by the central bank, it has been apprised that according to the data for the second quarter of the year 2020 AD, the total number of POS operations increased to 502 million, with a growth of 38.5 per cent compared to the second quarter of 2019, and the value of operations increased to reach 76.6 billion riyals.