ARMONK, N.Y. and RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, April 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Saudi Payments,
under the supervision of the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) announced
the launch of Saudi Arabia's
instant payments system 'sarie' in cooperation with IBM (NYSE: IBM)
and Mastercard (NYSE: MA), the leading technology company in the
global payments industry. This collaboration marks a key milestone
for payments innovation in the region and is aligned with Saudi
Payments' aim to improve the Kingdom's financial ecosystem, mainly
through the adoption of faster payments and improvements to banking
reconciliation. Today, 'sarie' supports all Saudi banks across the
Kingdom and is available for use by their customers.
The introduction of 'sarie' is in line with Saudi Arabia's Financial Sector Development
Program (FSDP) under Saudi Vision 2030, which targets achieving 70%
non-cash transactions by 2030.
'sarie' allows bank customers to send and receive money in
real-time using a wider range of services and transfer options.
Customers of local banks can make instant transactions of up to
SAR 20,000 (USD 5,300) through the system. Further, "sarie"
users can benefit from the quick transfer service to send up to
SAR 2,500 (USD
660) using aliases, such as mobile number, email address, ID
number, or IBAN number.
Saudi Payments Managing Director Fahad
Al-Akeel said, "The instant payments system 'sarie' can
enable us to drive usage and engagement across the Saudi payments
ecosystem of banks and businesses. It can help lay the foundation
for new payments business initiatives, encouraging financial
inclusion and banking reconciliation of Saudi banks. We welcome
this momentous collaboration with IBM and Mastercard. It is a huge
step forward that aligns with our ongoing smart solutions and
payments modernization strategy, aimed towards achieving the
assigned goals in vision 2030."
Maria Medvedeva, Vice President
and Country Business Development Lead, Saudi Arabia, Mastercard, said, "This is a
significant milestone in our real-time payments journey and is the
result of hard work. Saudi Arabia
is an important market for Mastercard, and we anticipate that with
this real-time payment system going live in the MEA region, many
doors may soon open for ongoing innovation, both in the Kingdom and
further afield. The initiative can significantly contribute towards
digitizing and modernizing transactions in line with the goals of
Vision 2030, and can also help increase the efficiency of the
financial systems and offer consumers access to a wider range of
financial services, positively impacting the Saudi economy and its
citizens."
Saudi Payments selected IBM Global Business Services (GBS), the
services and consultancy arm of IBM, to lead the project as the
System Integrator (SI) partner and a leading end-to-end digital
payments solutions provider. IBM GBS designed and architected the
solution through its complex system integration methodology, built
a technical platform and integrated Mastercard's instant payments
platform into Saudi Payments' existing infrastructure while
connecting it to the IT systems of locally operating banks. Not
only is this a milestone for payments innovation locally, it is the
fastest end-to-end rollout globally of a digital payments system of
its kind and scale.
Mastercard's innovative and secured real-time payment technology
was selected for the rollout by Saudi Payments, enabling people and
businesses in the Kingdom to send money instantly. It is part of
the tech company's broader multi-rail strategy to lead payment
innovation in the MEA region across all digital payment rails,
enabling people and organizations to send and receive money
how, where, and when they choose, across both card and
account-to-account payments rails. Mastercard's experience of
real-time payments implementations includes the launch of The
Clearing House's RTP® – the transformative real-time
payment system in the U.S. - an evolution of Mastercard's highly
successful and reliable systems developed for Faster Payments in
the U.K., FAST in Singapore, and
PromptPay in Thailand. Mastercard
is now providing real-time payments infrastructure technology for
12 of the largest 50 countries ranked by GDP.
Dina Abo-Onoq, Managing Partner, IBM GBS, Saudi Arabia, said, "In order for banks and
financial institutions to remain current, they should be prepared
to adapt to the changing and on-the-go customer needs, using the
latest innovations. This launch is another step towards the
advancement of the payments and banking landscape in Saudi Arabia and the region. The new payments
solution is designed to provide the citizens and residents of
Saudi Arabia with Mastercard's
real-time capabilities and help promote financial innovation."
Saudi Payments has successfully rolled out 'sarie' across all
banks operating locally, using the most advanced technology built
on the latest ISO 20022 messaging standards. The ambitious system
is expected to support local government, business, and consumer
payment needs across various payment flows, creating a more
convenient and accelerated economic activity across the
Kingdom.
About IBM
For more information about IBM GBS, visit
https://www.ibm.com/services
About Mastercard Incorporated,
www.mastercard.com
Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments
industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital
economy that benefits everyone, everywhere by making transactions
safe, simple, smart, and accessible. Using secure data and
networks, partnerships and passion, our innovations and solutions
help individuals, financial institutions, governments, and
businesses realize their greatest potential. Our decency quotient,
or DQ, drives our culture and everything we do inside and outside
of our company. With connections across more than 210 countries and
territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks
priceless possibilities for all.
Media Contact:
Charlotte Bergmann
IBM External Relations
charlotte.bergmann@ibm.com
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SOURCE IBM