Egypt also plans to allocate $6.4 billion on the back of the coronavirus outbreak. SAMA’s package will help small and medium-sized enterprises combat the economic impact as a result of the outbreak.

SAMA’s funding is anticipated to grant SMEs six-month postponement on financial commitments such as bank payments and concessional. That said, they will be given exemptions from the costs incurred from loan guarantee programme, media reports said.

The UAE’s Targeted Economic Support Scheme comprises aims to support banks in the country through collateralised, zero-interest loans. The regulator said in a statement “The purpose of the targeted scheme is to facilitate provision of temporary relief from the payments of principal and interest on outstanding loans for all affected private sector companies and retail customers in the UAE.”

SAMA is the Kingdom’s central bank and it will oversee the banking sector’s performance. In fact, as part of its recently unveiled package, 30 billion riyals is available to banks and financing companies. This is in return for postponing loan payments for small and medium sized enterprises.

According to the regulator, the UAE banks have sufficient capital and maintain significant voluntary capital buffers.

The post Coronavirus: Saudi Arabia plans $13.3 bn stimulus for private sector appeared first on International Finance.

The decision to grant them digital banking licences by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) will depend on the value proposition the proposed Saudi Arabian digital banks bring to Saudi Arabia’s banking sector.
Yazeed Alsheikh, director for general of banking control at the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority recently confirmed the same to the local media.

The names of the two applicants are not yet known.

Last week, the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) issued new digital banking guidelines to be followed by digital banking players in Saudi Arabia.

According to the central bank, the digital banking guidelines of Saudi Arabia complement its banking licencing guidelines and minimum criteria.

These new digital banking guidelines issued by Saudi Arabia must be considered as additional conditions to be met along with the licensing guidelines for conventional banks, according to SAMA.

In a statement, SAMA said, “The additional guidelines are to keep up with the developments in the financial and information technology sectors and to achieve the objectives of the Financial Sector Development Program (FSDP) and Saudi Vision 2030 by developing the digital economy.”

Last year, the central bank started processing applicants for three new banking licences in the kingdom. Reportedly, two of the new licences were for traditional banks and one for a digital bank.

Recently, SAMA granted a licence to BayanPay-a network brand of Finablr, to provide payment services in the country. Finablr is a Saudi Arabia-based global platform for payments and foreign exchange solutions.

The post Saudi Arabia reviews two new digital banking applicants appeared first on International Finance.

The study shows that card payments took the lion’s share of all payments at nearly 30 percent, while other types included the SADAD platform and other financial payments. In a nutshell, the study reflects the success of SAMA’s strategy to support epayments. Also, the Financial Sector Development Programme is focused on enhancing e-payments and reducing cash transactions in line with Vision 2030, the local media reported.

Earlier this month, the Saudi cabinet approved SAMA’s request to establish the Saudi Payments Company as an independent entity. The Saudi Payments Company aims to increase financial inclusion in the Kingdom and develop the payments sector.

The total number of Mada devices in operation increased to more than 421,000 in 2019 from 107,000 at the end of 2013. The study said that there is a significant growth in the use of Mada devices in the Kingdom’s commercial sector, such as oil and gas. Also, the launch of Mada Atheer technology plays an important role in increasing epayments. 

Mada is the new identity of the Saudi Payment Network. Experts said that the development of this technology demonstrates progress in  the integration and use of Apple Pay. 

“Basically it is to transfer Saudi society from being heavily cash dependent on buying goods and services to a cashless society using digital and epayment,” Talat Hafiz, from the Media and Banking Awareness Committee for Saudi Banks, told Arab News. 

The post Saudi epayments account for over 36% of all payments now appeared first on International Finance.