SAMA suspends freezing clients’ bank accounts for 30 days

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) issued a decision to suspend the freezing of clients’ bank accounts for a period of 30 days with regards to specific cases.

SAMA explained that the decision applies to cases, including:

- The expiration of the customer’s identity

- Failure to meet the requirements of knowing your customer (KYC)

- Changing the account status to dormant as there are no banking transactions

The authority directed the banks to take into consideration the facilitation of procedures for renewing the ATM cards (MADA) and credit cards by all available means.

The move comes in response to regulating the work by financial institutions "remotely" according to specific controls, and in line with the preventive measures issued by the Saudi government to combat the spread of the Coronavirus.