The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) launched the instant payment system sarie, under the patronage of His Excellency Governor of the Central Bank Dr. Fahad bin Abdullah Al-Mubarak.
Commenting on the achievement, the Central Bank Governor said that the launch of the sarie system 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.
Saudi Payments said that the sarie services will allow the banking sector’s clients to send and receive low-value local transactions around the clock and for a low fee, not exceeding one Saudi Riyal.
Additionally, 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.
Furthermore, Saudi Payments indicated that any financial transaction of less than SAR 20,000 will be instantly credited to the recipient account by the sarie system.
The system also offers the quick transfer service, which, upon activation by the account holder, allows the banking sector’s clients to send payments of amounts less than SAR 2,500 without adding and activating the beneficiary.
His Excellency Governor of the Central Bank Dr. Fahad bin Abdullah Al-Mubarak stated,
“They offer secure and innovative payment solutions, meet the needs of various segments of the economy, and increase the effectiveness of the liquidity circulation in the financial system, through reducing the operational costs of cash handling, facilitating sending and receiving payments, and driving the digital transformation in the Kingdom by increasing the volume of digital financial transactions.
In his statement, Saudi Payments’ Managing Director Fahd Al-Akeel said,
“The launching of the sarie system is the result of several months of meticulous efforts with all the partners. Despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, the speed of the instant payment system’s deployment across all the local banks is the fastest of its kind worldwide.”
Featured image credit: Edited from Pixabay
