2019 Q2 Report En · Page 6

 
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SAMA Grants Banking License to Credit Suisse  
The SAMA has licensed Credit Suisse Bank to operate in Saudi 
Arabia.  This comes as part of its efforts to achieve one of the 
strategic objectives under the scope of the Financial Sector 
Development Program (FSDP). Credit Suisse is expected to add 
value to the Saudi banking sector by promoting the growth of the 
private sector through fulfilment of finance needs and 
development of innovative financial solutions. This would in turn 
help enhance the quality of banking services offered to customers 
and create job opportunities. 
Saudi Arabia Obtains Full Membership of Financial Action 
Task Force 
The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) granted the Kingdom of 
Saudi Arabia full membership of the Group, with the total number 
of FATF full members coming to 39. The Kingdom is the first Arab 
country to obtain membership in the FATF. In 2015, the Kingdom 
received an invitation from the FATF to join the Group as an 
observer. The invitation was made in recognition of its efforts and 
measures in the field of combating money laundering and 
financing of terrorism and proliferation, its compliance with 
international standards and requirements, and its commitment to 
all relevant international and bilateral conventions.   
Esal Platform, SAMA’s Initiative in Developing Financial 
Sector, Wins Best Technological Innovation Award for 
Invoices of Digital Business Payments in Middle East in 2019 
The SAMA had launched Esal for test in March 2018, an e-
invoicing digital business payment platform developed by ‘Saudi 
Payments’ System. The platform provides an integrated solution 
for all billing and payment operations in the business sector by 
facilitating interactions between suppliers and buyers, making it 
easy for all parties to track the status of invoices issued through all 
stages. The award was offered by Seamless 2019 Digital 
Economic Conference and Exhibition.  
SAMA Promotes Financial Inclusion in the Kingdom 
The SAMA works on enhancing the level of financial inclusion in 
the Kingdom, which is one of the main goals of the Financial 
Sector Development Program (FSDP). The program seeks to help 
individuals and establishments access the authorized financial 
services and products to incorporate them in the official financial 
system in order to ensure fairness, transparency, and protection 
of clients. Financial inclusion is an effective means of enhancing 
stability, deepening and diversifying financial systems, and 
supporting opportunities for sustainable development. 
Tadawul and Edaa Announce Changes on Services Fees for 
Sukuk and Bond Market 
The Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) and the Securities 
Depository Center Company (Edaa) announced that fees and
commissions would be restructured for sukuk and bond services, 
in line with the Financial Sector Development Program (FSDP)
initiative to develop the Saudi debt market. The changes include 
the reduction of Edaa’s IPO file upload fees and annual registry
fees. In addition, these include lowering Tadawul’s minimum fee 
requirement for annual listing and introducing caps for the first 
and subsequent issuances. The changes have been implemented 
from June 9, 2019. 
Tadawul Announces Amendment of Trading and
Membership Rules 
The Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul) announced the amendment 
of Trading and Membership Rules   The amended rules were
effective from May 19, 2019 and were posted on Tadawul 
website. 
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