Article 10
| No: 14525 | Date(g): 8/11/2017 | Date(h): 19/2/1439 | Status: In-Force |
| 1- | Financial institutions provide wire transfer activities shall obtain information on the originator and beneficiary and ensure that such information is kept with the wire transfer or related message throughout the payment chain. A financial institution that is unable to obtain required originator or beneficiary information shall not permit the execution of the wire transfer. | |
| 2- | A financial institution shall record all originator and beneficiary information and keep the records, documents, data, and files in accordance with Article 12. | |
| 3- | A financial institution shall comply with all measures on wire transfers as set out in the Implementing Regulation. |
10/1
Article 10 of the Law shall apply to cross-border wire transfers and domestic wire transfers in any currency, including serial payments and cover payments, which are received, or sent or processed by a financial institution in the Kingdom, including credit or debit or prepaid card, mobile phone or other digital or IT prepaid or postpaid device that are used to effect a person-to-person transfer of funds. The scope of the Law does not extend to a transfer that
| a. | flows from a transaction carried out using a credit or debit or prepaid card, a mobile phone or any other digital or IT prepaid or postpaid device with similar characteristics and exclusively for the purchase of goods or services, provided the credit or debit or prepaid card number accompanies the transfer flowing from the transaction; or | |||
| b. | constitutes a transfer or settlement between two financial institutions where both the originator and the beneficiary are a financial institution acting on their own behalf. | |||
10/2
Originator information shall include:
| a) | The full name of the originator; | |||
| b) | The originator account number where such an account is used to process the transaction or in the absence of an account number, a unique transaction number that permits traceability of the transaction; and | |||
| c) | The originator’s address, or customer identification, or date and place of birth. | |||
Beneficiary information shall include:
| a) | The full name of the beneficiary; and | |||
| b) | The beneficiary account number where such an account is used to process the transaction or in the absence of an account number, a unique transaction number that permits traceability of the transaction. | |||
10/3
A financial institution that orders a wire transfer shall include required and verified originator information and required beneficiary information with each wire transfer. In case of a suspicion, an STR shall be submitted according to Article 15 of the Law. If a financial institution cannot comply with its obligations under this provision, it shall not order the wire transfer.
10/4
Where several individual cross-border wire transfers from a single originator are bundled in a batch file for transmission to several beneficiaries, the ordering financial institution shall include in the batch file the required and verified originator information; the required beneficiary information that is fully traceable within the beneficiary country; and the originator’s account number of unique transaction reference number.
10/5
For domestic wire transfers, the obligations set out in Article 10/3 shall apply unless the ordering financial institution is in a position to make all required originator and beneficiary information available to the financial institution ultimately receiving the wire transfer or competent authorities by other means, in which case the ordering financial institution may only include the account number or a unique transaction reference number that permits the transaction to be linked with the relevant originator or beneficiary information. The ordering institution shall make the required and verified originator and required beneficiary information available within three business days upon receiving a request for such information from the financial institution ultimately receiving the wire transfer or a competent authority.
10/6
A financial institution shall maintain all originator and beneficiary information in accordance with Article 12 of the Law.
10/7
For cross-border wire transfers, a financial institution processing an intermediary element of the payment chain shall ensure that all originator and beneficiary information that accompanies a wire transfer is retained with it, and shall keep all wire transfer information including originator and beneficiary information in accordance with Article 12 of the Law.
10/8
Where technical limitations prevent the required originator or beneficiary information accompanying a cross-border wire transfer from remaining with a related domestic wire transfer, the intermediary financial institution shall keep a record for ten years of all the information received from the ordering or other intermediary financial institution.
10/9
A financial institution ultimately receiving or processing an intermediary element of a wire transfer shall have in place and apply procedures for:
| a) | Identifying wire transfers that lack required originator or beneficiary information; | |||
| b) | Determining, on a risk basis, when to execute, reject, or suspend a wire transfer that lacks required originator or required beneficiary information; and | |||
| c) | Taking appropriate risk based follow-up action which may include restricting or terminating the business relationship. | |||
10/10
A financial institution ultimately receiving a cross-border wire transfer shall take reasonable measures to identify cross-border wire transfers that lack required originator or beneficiary information. Such measures may include post-even monitoring or real-time monitoring where feasible. , if the identity has not been previously verified, a financial institution ultimately receiving the transfer shall verify the identity of wire-transfer sender’s information and maintain this information in accordance with Article 12 of the Law.
10/11
Confidentially requirements under Saudi law shall not preclude a financial institution from exchanging information with other domestic or foreign institutions that are processing any part of the transaction as required to comply with the provisions under this Article.