2.4.1 Rules for Opening Prepaid Electronic Records where the Contracting Entity is an Individual

No: م أ ق/15631

Date(g): 2/5/2012 | Date(h): 11/6/1433

Status: In-Force

Effective from Feb 25 2025 - Feb 24 2025
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For prepaid payment products where the contracting entity is an individual and where the prepaid payment product is not using a simpler form of KYC the said individual shall be the person for whom the bank will need to identify the required information pertinent to doing financial business with them as a customer for KYC purposes. The individual will also be the person against which the required transaction monitoring of KYC, AML and CTF are applied.

Included within these are all consumer prepaid payment services where the contracting entity is an individual. This includes personal payment service products with a single payment device attached, as well as payment service products with sub-records such as youth cards. Specifically for payment service products for minors less than 18 years old the requirements set out in "Rules Governing the Opening of Bank Accounts & General Operational Guidelines in Saudi Arabia", section 200-1-1 “Minors of less than 18 years' old" apply.

For such a payment service product the following conditions shall apply;

1-	A master account shall be opened under the name of the contracting entity.
2-	Electronic record or ‘sub-records’ (sub-accounts of the master account) shall be opened for every payment service product issued.
3-	Such payment service product shall be branded for use at SPAN access points.
4-	Sub-records’ (card accounts) shall not be allowed to accept cash deposits or any credit entries other than the amounts transferred thereto from the master account of the contracting entity.
5-	No monthly statements shall be required for issue for such sub-record customers (sponsored cardholders) unless specifically requested by the contracting entity. Instead, the cardholder can get an ATM-generated brief transaction statement.
6-	The signature specimens of the customers of such sub-records shall not be entered into the issuer's computer system.
7-	The contracting entity shall provide the issuer with completed application forms and copies of the personal documents of sponsored cardholders under its sponsorship and acknowledge that payment services are to be provided to them under its responsibility.
8-	Transactions of such prepaid payment services shall be limited to:
		-	Depositing of funds can only be made by the contracting entity
		-	Withdrawing (via ATM and PoS)
		-	POS purchase
		-	Payment of bills via SADAD
		-	Remittance outside of the Kingdom by the primary cardholder’s membership of a remittance service if included in the contracted payment services agreed with the contracting entity
9-	Such cards shall be delivered to concerned sponsored cardholders by the contracting entity, and personal identification numbers (PIN’s) of the cards shall be delivered by the issuer (the issuer branches or representative) to the primary cardholder under a written form to be kept in the master account file.
10-	A special design shall be adopted for the above-mentioned cards which is consistent with the design specification for SPAN Prepaid cards issued from time-to-time by the SPAN scheme.
11-	Card expiry is to be within 3 years of issue, Card expiry can be extended for certain categories (i.e. Student cards) subject to SAMA approval.
12-	For payroll cards:
		-	Once the cardholders valid Government issued identity card has expired the card has to be stopped.
		-	The issuer shall provide necessary technical support and make available sufficient ATM access to serve the above-mentioned customers as near as possible to their work locations.

All programs must comply with the regulatory rules for prepaid payment services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.