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Article 1

No: 14525 Date(g): 8/11/2017 | Date(h): 19/2/1439 Status: In-Force

 

The following terms and phrases – wherever mentioned in this Law – shall have the meanings assigned thereto unless the context requires otherwise: 
 
 1-The law: the Anti-Money Laundering law.
 2-The regulation: the Implementing Regulation of this law.
 3-Funds: Assets, economic resources or properties of any value or type, however acquired, whether material or immaterial, movable or immovable, tangible or intangible, along with documents, deeds, transfers, letter of credits and instruments of any form, whether inside or outside the Kingdom. This include electronic or digital systems and bank credits that evidence ownership or interest therein, also all types of commercial papers , securities, or any interest, profit or other income generated from such funds.
 4-Predicate Offense: Any committed act within the KSA constituting an offense punishable by Sharia or statutory law, or any act committed outside the Kingdom if it constitutes a crime according to the laws of the State where it was committed and would have constituted an offense under the Sharia or statutory laws of the Kingdom had it been committed therein.
 5-Proceeds of crime: the funds directly or indirectly obtained or acquired from or through the commission of a predicate offense, whether inside the Kingdom or outside, including any funds transferred or converted wholly or partially into other type of funds.
 6-Instrumentalities: Anything prepared, used, or intended to use, in any form to commit a crime of crimes stipulated in the law.
 7-Financial Institution (FI): Any conduct as a business one or more of the financial activities or operations specified in the Implementing Regulation of this Law for or on behalf of a customer.
 8-Designated Non-Financial Businesses or Profession (DNFBP): Any conducted of any commercial or professional activities as specified in the Implementing Regulation.
 9-Non-profit Organizations (NPO): Any non-profit organization entity that – legally authorized, to collects, receives or disburses funds for charitable, religious, cultural, educational, social or cooperative purposes or for any other purposes.
 10-Provisional Seizure: Temporary ban on the transport, transfer, exchange, conversion, disposal, or movement of funds, and temporary possession, pursuant to an order issued by a competent court or authority.
 11-Confiscation: Permanent expropriation and deprivation of funds, Proceeds of crime, or instrumentalities pursuant to an order issued by a competent court or authority.
 12-Supervisory Authority: The authority with responsibility to monitor the compliance by FIs, DNFPBs, and NPOs with the requirements under this Law, its Regulation or any relevant decision or instructions.
 13-Competent Authority: Any administrative authority, law-enforcement authority or supervisory authority.
 14-Bearer Negotiable Instruments: Monetary instruments in bearer form, such as cheques, promissory notes, and money order, that are in bearer form or endorsed or made out to a fictitious payee, or otherwise that are in such form that title thereto passes upon delivery, or incomplete instruments signed but with the payee’s name omitted.
 15-Beneficial owner: Any natural person who ultimately owns or exercises direct or indirect control over a customer or on whose behalf a transaction is being conducted, including on the FIs or DNFBPs or NPOs or any other legal person.
 16-Customer: Any person who conduct or intend to conduct any activities as stipulated in the Implementing Regulation with the FIs, DNFBPs.
 17-Business relationship: Any relationship with a continuing nature, which is established between any of FIs and DNFBPs and its clients related to the activities or services the FIs and DNFBPs provide to them.
 18-Shell Bank: A bank that is incorporated or licensed in a country in which it has no physical presence and that is unaffiliated with a regulated financial group that is subject to regulation and supervision.
 19-Wire Transfer: A financial transaction carried out on behalf of an originator through a financial institution with the view to making an amount of funds available to a beneficiary at another financial institution, irrespective of whether the originator and the beneficiary are the same person.
 20-Due Diligence Measures: The process of obtaining or verifying information on a customer or beneficial owner to enable the FIs or DNFBPs to assess the extent to which the customer exposes it to a range of risks.

1/1 - The following terms and phrases - wherever mentioned in the Law and its Implementing Regulation - shall have the meanings assigned thereto unless the context requires otherwise:

 A.Person: Includes any natural or legal person.
 B.Transaction: Includes any disposition of funds, properties, cash or in kind proceeds including but not limited to depositing, withdrawing, transferring, selling, purchasing, loaning, committing, extending of credit, mortgaging, gifting, financing, or exchanging of funds in any currency, whether in cash or checks, payment orders, sticks, bonds or any other financial instruments; or using safe deposit boxes and any other disposition of funds.
 C.Economic resources: Are assets of any kind, whether tangible or intangible, movable or immovable, actual or potential, which may be used to obtain funds, goods or services, including but not limited to equipment, furniture, fittings and fixtures and other items of a fixed nature; vessels, aircraft and motor vehicles; inventories of goods; art; jewelry; gold; oil products, refined products, modular refineries and related material including chemicals and lubricants; minerals, or timber or other natural resources; arms and related materials, raw materials and components that can be used to manufacture improvised explosive devices or unconventional weapons, any types of proceeds of crime, including from the illicit cultivation, production or trafficking of narcotic drugs or their precursors; patents, trademarks, copyrights and other forms of intellectual property, internet hosting or related services.
 D.Correspondent Relationship: It is a relationship between a correspondent institution and a respondent institution through a current or other account or related services, such as cash management, international funds transfers, cheque clearing, foreign exchange services, trade finance, liquidity management, or short-term borrowing. The definition shall also cover correspondent relationships established for securities transactions or funds transfers.
 E.Financial Group: Is a group that consists of a company or of any other type of legal or natural persons that exercises control and coordinating functions over the rest of the group for application of group supervision, together with branches or subsidiaries that are subject to anti-money laundering policies and procedures at the group level.
 F.Legal Arrangements: The relationship established by a contract between two parties or more which not result legal person, such as trusts or other similar arrangement.
 G.False Declaration: Providing a fake information on the value of currency or bearer negotiable instruments which are being transferred, or providing other false information required by the declaration or by the General Directorate of Customs, including not providing the declaration as required.
 H.Controlled Delivery: A method whereby the competent authority, and under its observation, is permitted to allow the illicit or suspicious fund or proceeds of crime to enter the Kingdome, pass it, or go outside the Kingdom for the purpose of identifying and detecting such crime and its perpetrators.
 

1/2 - All activities and financial transactions mentioned in Para (7) of this Article are as following:

 A.Acceptance of deposits and other repayable funds from the public, including private Banking; 
 B.Lending, financial leasing or any other form of financing; 
 C.Money or value transfer services; 
 D.Issuance and managing means of payment (e.g. credit and debit cards, checks, traveler's checks, payment orders and bankers’ drafts, electronic money); 
 E.Issuance Financial guarantees and commitments; 
 F.Activities related to securities as set out in the Capital Markets Law or any trading in: 
  1.money market instruments including checks, bills of exchange, and certificates of deposit;
  2.currencies;
  3.exchange, interest rate and financial index instruments;
  4.negotiable securities and financial derivatives;
  5.commodity future trading;
 G.Foreign exchange transactions; 
 H.Participation in securities issuing, and provision of financial services; 
 I.Individual and collective portfolio management; 
 J.Safekeeping and administration of cash or liquid securities on behalf of other persons; 
 K.Concluding life insurance contracts and other types of investment related insurance as a provider or an agent or broker of the insurance contract or any other insurance products stipulated in the Law on Supervision of Cooperative Insurance Companies; or 
 L.Investing, administering or managing funds on behalf of other persons.
 		 

1/3 - The Commercial and Profession activities mentioned in Para (8) of this Article are as following:

 a.Real estate brokerage when they are involved in transactions for their client concerning the buying and selling of real estate in all its forms; 
 b.Dealing in gold, precious stones, or precious metals, when engaging in cash transactions with a customer equal to or above SAR 50.000, whether the transaction is carried out in a single operation or in several operations which appears to be linked, whether through individual firm or commercial Companies. 
 c.Attorneys and any person providing legal or accounting type services in the exercise of professional activities, when they prepare, execute, or conduct a transaction for customers in relation to any of the following activities: 
  i.Purchase or sale of real estate;
  ii.Management of a customer's funds, including securities, bank accounts, and other assets;
  iii.Establishment, operation, or management of legal persons or legal arrangements and the organization of related subscriptions; or
  iv.Sale or purchase of commercial companies.
 

1/4 - The Supervisory Authority as stipulated in para (12) of this Article are:

 A.Saudi Central Bank*.
 B.Capital Market Authority.
 C.Ministry of Commerce and Investment.
 D.Ministry of Justice.
 E.Ministry of Labor and Social Development.
 F.Any other authority mandated by law to monitor or supervise financial institutions or designated non-financial businesses of professions or NPOs
 

1/5 - All activities and works mentioned in Para (16) of this Article are as following:

 a)Arranging, or undertaking a transaction, business relationship or opening account;
 b)A signatory to a transaction, business relationship, or account;
 c)Assigning an account, transferring rights or obligations according to a transaction;
 d)who is authorized to conduct a transaction, or to control a business relationship or an account; or
 e)who attempts to take any of previous actions.
 

1/6 - The competent Authority stipulated in para (13) of this Article are:

 a.Public Prosecution.
 b.Ministry of Interior.
 c.Presidency of State Security.
 d.Supervisory Authority.
 e.General Directorate of Customs.
 f.General Directorate of Financial Intelligence.
 g.Any other authority assigned to apply the provisions under this Law.
 

* The "Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency" was replaced By the "Saudi Central Bank" in accordance with The Saudi Central Bank Law No. (M/36), dated 11/04/1442H, corresponding to 26/11/2020G.