Northey Point Limited

On Saturday the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) launched an instant payment system ‘sarie’ . It comes as part of a series of SAMA-led initiatives to promote the national payments’ ecosystem and to enhance its infrastructure, aiming to achieve financial inclusion.

• Customers can send and receive low-value local transactions around the clock and for a low fee, not exceeding one riyal.

• The system provides beneficiaries with other services and transfer options, including using the mobile number as an identifier instead of the IBAN for transactions between banks and the ability to verify the validity of the recipient’s bank account before completing the transaction.

• The system also offers the quick transfer service, which allows the banking sector’s clients to send payments of amounts less than SR2,500 without adding and activating the beneficiary upon activation by the account holder. 

• Initially launched in 1997, the Saudi Arabian Riyal Interbank Express (SARIE) system is the RTGS system that underpins the Saudi payments environment. It is now upgraded to the ISO 20022 standard. 

More: Saudi Payments.