Rule 1: The financial institution must encourage consumers to read the contracts and their annexes, the initial disclosure form, the terms and conditions, and any documents that require the consumer’s approval or signature. Moreover, the financial institution must verify consumers' knowledge of the content of these documents and provide the updated terms and conditions through its electronic channels.
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Rule 2: The financial institution must provide information and/or documents to consumers clearly and accurately, and it must avoid misinformation, fraud and deception.
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Rule 3: The financial institution must include all terms and conditions in the product or service application form, provided that the warning statements include the potential risks if the product or service is used in a way other than agreed upon. These terms and conditions must be drafted in Arabic in a simple, clear and direct language. An English copy must be provided upon the consumer’s request.
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Rule 4: Without prejudice to Rule (8) of this section, the financial institution must inform the consumer, through a text message to the mobile phone number registered with the financial institution and the other documented channels, of any change in the terms and conditions (if the agreement and relevant instructions allow this change) at least 30 days before the change comes into effect. In addition, the financial institution must enable the consumer to object in the event of their non-consent to the notification received through one of the documented channels.
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Rule 5: When concluding the contract or agreement, the financial institution must provide the consumer with an initial disclosure form that has an easy, clear and simple language, containing information on products and services, details of calculating fees and commissions, and the term cost (if any). The financial institution must also obtain an acknowledgment from the consumer that they have read and understood such information and agree to its content.
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Rule 6: The financial institution must standardize the font size used (14 as a minimum) and ensure that it is clear and readable in contracts and annexes, which include initial disclosure forms, terms and conditions, documents, exceptions, and any other document requiring the consumer’s review or signature. In addition, the financial institution must not request the consumer's signature (of any type) on any empty or incomplete document, and it must protect and maintain consumers' documents and signatures.
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Rule 7: The financial institution must provide the consumer with all documents related to the products or services in paper or electronic format - according to the consumer's preference - immediately upon obtaining them. If provided in paper format, the financial institution must obtain an acknowledgment of receipt from the consumer. Such documents include the contract and its annexes, insurance documents, terms and conditions, schedule of fees and commissions.
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Rule 8: The financial institution must not raise the amount of fees and commissions to be paid by a consumer after obtaining the service or product and signing the contract/agreement or the like. An exception is the fees and commissions related to a third party, provided that they are associated with the consumer’s benefit from the financed asset, and the consumer must be notified of this when signing the contract.
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Rule 9: The financial institution must set a list of fees and commissions (including third party fees) in a visible place in the head office and branches and publish it on the websites.
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Rule 10: When a consumers applies for a service or product, the financial institution must:
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| | a. | Send a text message to the consumer (immediately after submitting the application) containing, as a minimum: the application subject, the reference number, expected implementation date, and toll-free number for inquiries.
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| | b. | Notify the consumer of the acceptance or rejection of the application via a text message, within a maximum of (3) working days. If the application is rejected, the notification must include the reason for this rejection in addition to the mechanism of objection to it.
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| | c. | As an exception from Paragraph (b), notification of insurance claims must be in writing, and its period is determined according to the periods specified in the relevant instructions. This notification must include, at a minimum, the following:
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| | | - | If the claim is totally or partially accepted: the settlement amount, clarification of how the settlement amount was calculated, justification for the amount reduction or the partial acceptance of the claim.
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| | | - | If the claim is rejected: the reason for rejection, documents supporting the rejection decision if requested by the consumer.
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Rule 11: The financial institution is responsible for protecting consumer information and maintaining its confidentiality, whether the information is maintained by the institution or by a third party. Moreover, the financial institution must:
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| | a. | Provide a secure and confidential environment in all its channels to ensure the confidentiality of consumer information when executing transactions, establish appropriate work procedures and effective control systems for protecting consumer information, and detect and address any current or expected infringements.
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| | b. | Ensure that all permanent and temporary employees as well as employees of the third party, whether they are on the job or after leaving their posts, sign the consumer information confidentiality form, ensure not to disclose personal information, and limit access to such information to authorized persons only.
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| | c. | Maintain the confidentiality of consumer information in accordance with the relevant laws and instructions.
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Rule 12: The financial institution must ensure that all electronic channels are available and secure. In the event that consumers experience direct loss as a result of penetration of these channels and/or weak security, these consumers must be compensated for the losses. In addition, the financial institution must:
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| | a. | Adopt a number of identity authentication methods for accessing electronic services and take the necessary measures to reduce electronic fraud.
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| | b. | Mention the purpose of any text message containing a one-time password (OTP) to consumers by stating, for example, that it is for identification of a beneficiary, password reset, access to account, or money transfer.
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Rule 13: The financial institution must ensure that its systems and services are continuous and ready to meet the needs of consumers at all times. Additionally, it must not benefit from any refunds that may arise due to a technical error or malfunction; such refunds must be returned to each affected consumer without delay and within (5) working days without waiting for claims. Moreover, the institution must repair the malfunction according to the requirements of business continuity, communicate with the affected consumers to inform them of the error and the corrective measures taken through any of the documented channels, and announce the same through all available channels.
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Rule 14: The financial institution must ensure that all employees perform their duties efficiently and effectively and that they follow codes of conduct and ethics with high professionalism when serving current or potential consumers at all times. It must also train front-line employees who deal directly with consumers on a regular basis and ensure that they obtain the necessary professional certificates to be familiar with the skills of dealing with consumers, the products and services provided to consumers, and the relevant instructions issued by SAMA.
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Rule 15: Without prejudice to the relevant instructions, the financial institution must monitor the performance of front-line employees through (periodic/confidential) visits to the branches, call center, and collection staff (including third party employees) to ensure that they follow the best practices when dealing with consumers and that they are familiar with the instructions issued by SAMA as well as the products and services provided by the institution. In addition, semi-annual reports must be submitted to the senior management to monitor the performance of employees.
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Rule 16: The financial institution must continue to educate consumers, through all of its channels, about topics including, as a minimum: products and services and their risks, handling of debt and default, fraud, dealing with unlicensed companies or financial or investment institutions, savings, financial education and planning.
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Rule 17: The financial institution must provide multiple channels dedicated to receiving complaints, inquiries and requests and enable consumers to submit complaints easily and timely according to their preference, in line with the nature of the financial institution. These channels must include at a minimum: the toll-free number, branches and/or website, smart phone applications, email.
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Rule 18: The financial institution must display the complaint handling mechanism in a visible place in the head office and branches and publish it on the websites and smart phone applications.
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Rule 19: The mechanism for handling complaints and inquiries must include the following:
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| | a. | Procedures for submitting a complaint and/or inquiry.
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| | b. | Documenting receipt of the complaint and/or inquiry and providing the consumer with the main reference number and the specified complaint-handling period via a text message to the mobile phone number registered with the financial institution.
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| | c. | Providing the consumer with contact information of the department concerned with handling complaints and/or inquiries in case the consumer needs to communicate with the financial institution to follow up on the complaint and/or inquiry.
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| | d. | Documenting the channel used to communicate with the consumer and maintain its records for a minimum of five years.
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| | e. | Handling complaints and/or inquiries sent directly to the financial institution in accordance with the instructions issued by SAMA.
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| | f. | Providing the consumer with the results of complaint handling and/or answers to the inquiries in detail with documents that confirms correct handling through one of the documented channels, in addition to responding to their inquiries clearly and with high quality.
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| | g. | If a consumer is not satisfied with the result of the complaint handling and wants to escalate, the consumer should be provided with the escalation mechanism to a higher level within the financial institution or be directed to the competent authority, as preferred.
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Rule 20: The financial institution must develop performance indicators to measure the handling of directly-filed complaints, including (measuring customer satisfaction, measuring complaint handling quality). The results must be reported quarterly to the highest executive position in the financial institution.
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Rule 21: The financial institution must provide, within (5) working days, the following documents at the request of the consumer:
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| | a. | A copy of the original forms for any service or product.
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| | b. | A copy of the updated terms and conditions of the product or service.
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| | c. | A copy of the contracts concluded with the consumer, including the documents of collaterals and guarantees.
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| | d. | A copy of the insurance policy, if any.
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Rule 22: The financial institution must provide a toll-free number for consumers to call from inside Saudi Arabia via landline and mobile phones, in addition to a phone number for calling from outside Saudi Arabia (for banks and insurance companies) to submit complaints and inquiries. The toll-free number must be clearly displayed on the home page of the financial institution’s website in addition to all other channels.
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Rule 23: The financial institution must take into account the humanitarian cases and its social responsibility when dealing with consumers who have emergency financial difficulties and find suitable solutions before starting to take the legal actions against them.
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Rule 24: The financial institution, along with its personnel, must not treat current and future consumers differently in a biased or unfair manner in their various dealings based on their race, gender, religion, color, age, disability, martial status or any other forms of discrimination.
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Rule 25: The financial institution must publish the Financial Consumer Protection Principles and Rules on its website in a visible place.
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Rule 26: The financial institution must display the branch working hours at the branch’s main entrance and on the website, in addition to the working hours for phone services.
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