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10. Outbound and Inbound Domestic and International Remittances

Effective from 2017-03-12 - Mar 11 2017
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Domestic/international remittance activities (sending and receiving) shall be carried out through modern money transfer systems, such as SWIFT and the Saudi Arabian Riyal Interbank Express System (SARIE), and instantaneous money transfer systems, or through contractual agreements with reliable money transfer service providers under the following conditions: 
 
1)The execution of money transfer transactions for customers shall be accepted through membership only.
 
2)Domestic money remittances shall be carried out through SARIE only.
 
3)Money transfers (receiving) may be received for temporary customers (who are not entitled to create a membership relationship) of visitors who hold a visa/temporary residence permit as well as pilgrims and Umrah performers, provided that the amount of a single financial transaction does not exceed SAR 5,000 or its equivalent with a total not exceeding SAR 50,000 or its equivalent during one year, and that the requirements for dealing with temporary customers are fulfilled. A copy of the passport, including the page showing the entry visa, shall be obtained when carrying out permissible transactions. Other money transfer requirements, including the availability of other details such as home country address, contact number or the point of contact in Saudi Arabia and the signature, shall be taken into consideration, and the relationship of the recipient of the transfer with the transferor shall be clarified.
 
4)The consistency of the nature of the customer’s business and activities – whether as the owner of the membership or a temporary customer – the sources of funds and his/her annual income will be considered against the volume of his/her financial transactions and the purpose and type of the executed financial transactions.
 
5)Identify the real beneficiary who is in full or partial control of the membership or the financial transactions executed by customers; take necessary measures to achieve customer identification procedures; and fulfil CDD requirements.
 
6)Record all money transfers made by customers in the membership record of customers, provided that they include detailed information about such remittances.
 
7)Strengthen implementation requirements of the ‘KYC’ principle, and take necessary steps to meet heightened CDD requirements for high-risk customers.
 
8)Document, and record in the registers, all outbound and inbound money transfers that have been made for customers, including names of transferors and beneficiaries, and transfer amounts with their dates—such transfers shall be automatically linked to the customer’s ID number.
 

9) Furnish SAMA, in coordination with Banking Supervision Department, with a monthly statement that includes all money transfers that have been carried out with internal and external financial institutions (banks and money changers).

10)Take into consideration money transfer requirements set forth in the AML/CFT rules issued by SAMA.
 		   
11)Obtain complete and accurate information about the transfer originator (the customer) for outbound remittances, and shall be kept complete in the transfer message, or shall include the following:
 		   
 a.Required and accurate information about the transfer originator:
 		  
  -The name of the transfer originator.
 		   
  -The membership number of the transfer originator when the transaction was carried out.
 		   
  -The address of the transfer originator which can be left blank if it is not available and replaced with the official ID number (the national ID for citizens, the resident ID for expatriates) or the date and place of birth together.
 		   
  -The purpose of the transfer shall be specified in detail, confirming full knowledge about the beneficiary.
 		   
 b.Information required about the real beneficiary:
 		  
  -The beneficiary's name and address in his/her home country.
 		   
  -The date of birth, if available.
 		   
  -The type of relationship with the beneficiary.
 		   
  -The beneficiary’s account number when this account is used to carry out the transaction or, in case there was no account, use a distinct identification number for the transaction so that it could be monitored.
 		   
12)In the event of inbound remittances, and given the importance of considering common procedures followed by countries and financial institutions operating therein, complete information about the transfer originator shall be obtained and attached fully to the transfer message as provided in the abovementioned Paragraph 11.
 		   
13)In the event that a number of external wire transfers are sent from one originator within a bulk transfer to beneficiaries in another country, all information related to the originator accompanying the wire transfer with that transfer should be included for each external wire transfer, provided that the bulk transfer file (in which individual wire transfers are collated) contains the full information of the originator which can be tracked easily.
 		   

14) In the case where wire transfers are not accompanied with complete information about the originator, remittance centers operating in the Kingdom must put in place effective procedures and deal with them as follows:

  -Obtain complete information from the correspondent financial institution or from the transfer service provider— this applies to all domestic and international banks.
 
  -Reject the transaction and return the transfer if the correspondent financial institution does not respond.
 
  -In case a transaction was suspicious and the financial institution did not respond, it is necessary to report this to SAFIU.
 
  -Document the decisions that were taken in writing along with their reasons, and keep these documentary and electronic records for a period of ten years based on AML/CFT rules issued by SAMA.
 
  -Inbound remittances must include the name of the financial institution, the country of origin for the transfer, the name of the correspondent financial institution and the country, and the correspondent financial institution must adhere thereof. In the event of a change in the transfer originator information, the remittance center must inform the beneficiary of such change.
 
15)Strengthen due diligence measures when implementing remittances related to politically exposed persons such as job holders, leadership incumbents and diplomats.
 
16)Reject any outbound/inbound remittances from/to Saudi Arabia for any charitable or non-profit organizations, except for bodies authorized to do so according to the Rules Governing the Opening of Bank Accounts and General Operational Guidelines in Saudi Arabia.
 
17)When implementing any new electronic money transfer and payments systems, it must be ensured that they have the ability to prevent and detect ML/TF operations.
 
18)Comply with transparency standards and ensure that money transfer messages (accompanying outbound/inbound transfers) contain full information of the originator and the beneficiary.
 
19)Perform continuous CDD measures towards customers sending/receiving remittances and audit the operations executed throughout the period of that relationship to ensure the completeness and conformity of operations carried out with the volume of customers activity, including the source of income, noting that the task of implementing the measures of ‘KYC’ and due diligence for the transferring person rests with the party, whether foreigner or domestic, transferring the funds.
 
20)In cases where technical restrictions prevent the transmission of complete information of the originator that is associated with an external wire transfer along with a local wire transfer (during the period necessary for harmonizing payment systems), the intermediate remittance center - the recipient of the transfer - must keep a record of all the information received from the financial institution that issued the transfer for a period of 10 years based on the AML/CFT rules issued by SAMA, taking into account the commitment to a period not exceeding (72 working hours) to respond to any inquiries received from the correspondent bank or concerned authorities.
 
21)In the event of repeated cases of lack of information, and lack of cooperation of the correspondent financial institutions (banks, money changers originating the transfer, transfer services providers); transfer centers operating in Saudi Arabia should assess the relationship with such banks, money changers, or transfer services providers, and consider restricting or terminating the relationship therewith.
 
22)In the case of suspicion of the transactions of, or the relationship with, a correspondent financial institution or a transfer services provider from a ML/TF perspective, such cases must be reported to SAFIU immediately and documented.
 
23)Remittance centers operating in Saudi Arabia contracting with money transfer services providers must obtain full information of the parties of the transfer transactions that such providers execute on their behalf.
 
24)Remittance centers operating in Saudi Arabia must put in place, for all their transactions, effective procedures to verify that ‘KYC’ requirements and due diligence measures are met and based on the risk rate and materiality treatment; and to tighten due diligence for funds transferred from or to countries against which FATF warnings have been issued.
 
25)Monitor all transactions (outbound/inbound transfers) to detect abnormal patterns in activities that do not have a clear economic or legal purpose, and examine the background and purpose of those transactions to the maximum extent possible, with the results being documented in writing.
 
26)When there are reasonable grounds to suspect that customers’ funds, operations and transactions represent proceeds of criminal activity or is related to or associated with ML/TF operations, they must be reported to SAFIU.
 
27)As for domestic transfers (inside the Kingdom) that are performed exclusively through SARIE, it is necessary to ensure that the name of the transferor and his/her account number are mentioned and that they are registered and stored in the remittance center’s system for the purpose of fast retrieval of information when requested by competent authorities. It is also necessary to verify the identity of the beneficiary from the internal (inbound) transfer in accordance with the Rules Governing the Opening of Bank Accounts and General Operational Guidelines.
 
28)Examine the names of individuals, entities and banks originating wire transfers and their beneficiaries against lists of individuals and entities whose assets must be stopped, rejected or frozen based on local instructions issued by supervisory authorities, as well as international lists such as the United Nations lists; and take necessary action thereof.
 
29)Examine the names of individuals, entities and banks that are the originators of transfers or intermediaries or beneficiaries thereof against international lists, such as those of the Security Council, the United Nations, FATF, etc.. and take necessary action accordingly.