Saudi Arabia aims to become a ‘cashless society’: SAMA Governor

Saudi Arabia aims to reduce the dependence on cash circulation through the continuous development of the national payment infrastructure to facilitate the transition to an electronic payment environment, Arab News reported, quoting Ahmed Abdulkarim Alkholifey, Governer of Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA).

“This will contribute towards a cashless society, one of the objectives of the Financial Sector Development Program,” Alkholifey said, speaking at the MEFTECH conference and exhibition at the Four Seasons Hotel in Riyadh.  

“Over the past two and a half decades, SAMA has embarked on a process of developing payment systems in the Kingdom and enriching them with the latest technical technologies that contribute to the advancement of economic development in our country while ensuring the independence of these systems without being affected by political and international changes,” he said.

“We are proud to have handled over 2.3 billion transactions over the last year alone, with a total financial value exceeding SAR 50 trillion,” he added.

“In order to keep abreast of international best practice, the Saudi Payments Company was established at the end of 2018 and was mandated to operate and manage the national payment systems. The role of the company will remain as a legislative body working to develop regulatory frameworks, update policies and licenses for the work of these parties, and monitor them to serve the objectives for which they were found, in particular to reduce the cash circulation in all commercial sectors,” Alkholifey continued.