In reference to the agreements made during the meetings of the governors of the central banks of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries regarding linking point-of-sale operations between the member states through the coordination of their payment systems, and further to SAMA's circular No. 371000100598 dated 14/09/1437H regarding the pricing policy for point-of-sale payments for the Gulf Payment Network.

We would like to inform you that the Saudi Payment Network (MADA) has completed the system readiness in preparation for the launch of the point-of-sale service for the Gulf Payment Network with the Kingdom of Bahrain on 22/07/2018G.

Therefore, SAMA emphasizes that all banks should communicate and coordinate with the MADA team regarding the technical and operational aspects and conduct the necessary tests to enable the acceptance and processing of transactions on their systems and on their point-of-sale devices, as follows:

- Enabling its devices in stores to accept purchase transactions executed with cards issued by Bahraini banks, regardless of the international payment systems accepted by these devices, while considering any commercial agreements signed with the stores, such as merchant service agreements and specific pricing for the service.

- Enabling its customers to complete purchase transactions in the Kingdom of Bahrain through direct integration with the Bahrain payment system operated by (Benifit), without the need to use international systems, and educating its customers about the benefits of this service while updating customer agreements accordingly.

We would like to emphasize the importance of incorporating this into the agreements and guidelines for providing the service to merchants and customers, educating them on how to benefit from this service. Furthermore, customers should be notified of the transactions conducted via SMS messages, in accordance with the requirements outlined in SAMA's letter No. 381000060893 dated 07/06/1438H regarding the transaction type "Payment via Point of Sale," including the host country.