5. Business Day Timetable and Calendar
5.1. Timetable
The timetable will allow all Direct Participants to provide high level of service to their customers. The Business Day Timetable will be impacted by providing adequate time for the completion of start-of-day and end-of-day business processes and to allow reasonable time for extending the period required for "pre end- of-day activities" in the event of problems or delays.
Some of the Business Day times are controlled by the system(s) while others are intended as times that all parties must adhere to.
The following key events occur during the course of the business day (Business Day Period):
1. System start.
2. FX Translation Rate adjustment - NCBs can send messages with FX Translation Rates; the official rate for their currency against the USD.
3. FX Translation Rate authorization - at the beginning of the period AFAQ Service cc calculates the cross- rates for all currency pairs and delivers them to NCBs for approval. NCBs send authorization messages: either approval or decline. In case no approval or decline is received, the FX rate is considered as unconfirmed. The system will prohibit cross-border payments for unconfirmed pairs of currencies.
4. System Housekeeping - at the beginning of the period, the system sends FX Translation rates notifications to the NCBs for all approved currency pairs. This period is also used for other housekeeping e.g. Business Day Calendar changes and Participant Directory updates.
5. Start of Day Funding: In accordance with SAMA's banking conditions the Direct Participant wishing to transact through AFAQ on a specific day shall prefund their respective account with SAMA through the Saudi Arabian Riyal Interbank Express "RTGS" on a daily basis to ensure that available balance in AFAQ is sufficient to cover all payment messages of all types as they fall due for payment. The Start of Day Funding message must be supplemented as per the following criteria:
• Be for credit to SAMA.
• Be an Interbank Payment Message.
• Quoting the Routing Code /AFAQSD100/ in Account with institution Field.
• Stating the nature & date of the funding in the Sender to Receiver Information Field.
6. Exchange period for all types of payments - exchange window for any type of operations including returns initiated by Direct Participants.
7. Exchange period for Interbank payments - only interbank payments will be accepted during this period.
8. End-of-day operations - automated return of cross-currency payments by Central Component which cannot be delivered to the RPGs of the receiving countries. RPGs do not automatically return the payments which cannot be delivered to the Domestic RTGS systems - as this should be only RPG operator's decision.
9. Reporting - generation of statements and Net Position reports, reconciliations and confirmations by NCBs & Direct Participants.
10. End-of-day Settlement window - end of day settlement operations through the Settlement Agent.
11. End-of-day reconciliation with NCBs - NCBs can monitor today's activity and send inquiries to the system to reconcile their activities during the day in case of any inconsistencies.
12. End of Day reconciliation With Direct Participants: On a successful completion of End of Day Settlement Window with NCBs, SAMA will reconcile respective accounts held & issue a "Zeroizing" transaction to sweep the available balance maintained by the Direct Participant within the Service to the current account of the Direct Participant in RTGS.
13. Archiving - data archiving
14. System stop.
5.2. Business Days
SAMA will specify and advise the Direct Participants of the days deemed Business Days for the purposes of the Service. SAMA may declare Business Days to be non-Business Days and vice versa for the purposes of the Service.
5.3. Calendar
The Business Day Calendar is maintained as a table in the AFAQ Service cc. The table contains a calendar of working days and holidays for cross-currency payments per country. Cross-currency payments are processed only if there is a working day in both the Sending and Receiving countries. Any updates to the calendar will be made within the AFAQ Service CC.
5.4. Cut-off
SAMA has the right to manage the orderly cut-off of the Service.
5.5. Limits on Transactions
SAMA may limit the categories of transactions allowed during times of the Business Cycle under advice to the Direct Participants.
5.6. Closures
SAMA may close the Service for the purposes of maintenance, correction of technical problems، or installation of systems, or other reason, which in SAMA's opinion makes a closure desirable.
5.7. Availability
Each Direct Participant will ensure that it is in a position to receive and send Payment Messages during the Operational Phase advised by SAMA.