Regulatory Rules for Prepaid Payment Services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Statementing The prepaid payment service Operator shall mail or deliver by other means a periodic statement to the merchant relating to prepaid transactions credited to the merchant account. The statement shall disclose the following items: a. Transactions. A summary of all prepaid payment service transactions, categorised by the charges disclosed in 2.13 ; b. Charges. A disclosure of the amount itemised and identified by type of any charges debited to the merchant account during the statement cycle; c. Address for notice of statement errors . The address to be used for notice of statement errors. 2.14 Non-compliance If SAMA finds that a bank has failed to comply with the rules contained in this document , it may take one or more of the following measures: impose fines on prepaid service providers; impose, for any specified period, limitations or other restrictions in relation to carrying out prepaid payment service provision by an issuer or acquirer; require a prepaid service provider to provide restitution to their customers; and request removal of outsourced service providers. In applying penalties for non-compliance SAMA will be guided by the level of penalties identified in Article 23 of the 'Banking Control Law', No. M/5 Dated 22.2.1386 . 2.15 Account Closure For prepaid accounts issued within the Kingdom, the closing of accounts must be conducted in accordance with the prevailing legislation. 2.15.1 Account Closure Rules for Reloadable Accounts If a prepaid payment service account is reloadable, the following closure rules apply: 2.15.2 Disclosure: The Issuing Programme Manager must provide the accountholder/contracting entity with appropriate methods or options to close their prepaid payment service record (account). Such options must be disclosed to the accountholder at the time of account opening. 2.15.3 Accountholder initiated closure: The accountholder is permitted to request closure of the prepaid payment service record by advising the issuer directly at an issuers premises or branch (including mobile branches), by authenticated contact through a call centre access, or through written request for record closure to a customer service centre. The issuer must offer the accountholder a mechanism by which they can choose to either transfer any remaining balance to another account/record or withdraw the remaining balance in cash. The prepaid card(s) associated with the record should be returned to the issuer upon record closure, to be securely destroyed. In the event the prepaid card cannot be provided to the bank during the record closure request, the card should be disabled from further use. 2.15.4 Issuer initiated closure: Issuer (Bank) can initiate a record closure, at their discretion, after a record has been inactive for at least 180 days and in all cases after 5 years, in accordance with the SAMA ‘ Rules Governing the Opening of Bank Accounts & General Operational Guidelines in Saudi Arabia ’. If a positive balance remains on the record, the bank must inform the accountholder in cases where the account holder is known, in writing or by other suitable means (e.g. SMS) of their intent to close the record and give the accountholder 30 days prior notice from the date of dispatch of the intent to close. If after this 30 day period the record remains inactive, the bank must close the prepaid record and disable the associated prepaid card(s). Any remaining balance in the record must be transferred to the Unclaimed Balances Account. Funds will remain at the Unclaimed Balances Account to support any refund in the event the accountholder or his representative was to return in the future and request their remaining funds. 2.15.5 Account Closure Rules for Non- Reloadable Accounts If a prepaid payment service account is non- reloadable (e.g. Gift Card), the account record expires either: When the value on the account record has been exhausted/spent. When the expiry date of the card is reached.