The Saudi Arabian Payments Network (SPAN) supports all card payments within the Kingdom and is a key component in the Saudi Arabian National Payments Strategy delivered through the IPSS. The SPAN Business Strategy (SPAN 2016 - Driving Change) is designed to position SPAN as the 'First Payment choice in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia'. Driven by the IPSS objective of reducing the volume and velocity of cash in the kingdom, the SPAN scheme will target the reduction of cash in the kingdom from over 94% of retail payment transaction volume, to less than 70% by 2020.
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The SPAN Business Strategy defines the development and change program Into four key dimensions:
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| | a. | Quality initiatives, designed to improve the overall service level and performance of the scheme |
| | b. | Growth Initiatives, designed to extend the reach of cashless retail payment services within the kingdom and to stimulate increased usage of card payment services among existing SPAN cardholders |
| | c. | Governance of the SPAN Scheme and development programme, to ensure appropriate development and management of stakeholder interests |
| | d. | Communications Initiatives, to ensure a consistent level of stakeholder education and understanding of the SPAN vision, mission and deliverables, optimization of the scheme promotional and marketing initiatives and a clear understanding of the operational and regulatory obligations of scheme participants.
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Figure 1: 'SPAN 2016 - Driving Change' program outline
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Central to the development of the SPAN service is the ongoing development of new business services which:
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| | 1. | Support the strategic direction of the IPSS and the SPAN Business Strategy - 2016 |
| | 2. | Offer added value to the key stakeholders (Merchant, Card Issuer and Card Acquirer) |
| | 3. | Offers value to the Card holder
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Naqd Service (Cash-back with Purchase) at Point of Sale generates the following opportunities:
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| | | ○ | Encourages cardholders to use PoS functionality as a source of multiple Card based services |
| | | ○ | Migrates some traffic away from (an already busy) ATM network |
| | | ○ | Provides an opportunity for Merchants to offload (expensive) cash |
| | | ○ | Allows Card Acquirers sell the benefits of PoS, by including Cash-back as an additional service suite to the Merchant
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Naqd Service at PoS Is a common feature in retail (card) payment markets In Europe, Asia, US and Australia, and is acknowledged as a material feature of progressive card-based retail payments systems.
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International analysis suggests that Cash-back with purchase at point of sale can be a feature of (typically) 5% to 8% of card point-of-sale transactions.
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