Supporting the “Saudi’s Vision 2030”, the latest technological system’s core objective is for upsurging Non-cash transactions within the Kingdom.
Under the able and guided Supervision of the Saudi’s premier Banking institution Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), an instantaneous payment system ‘Sarie’ has been launched in by Saudi Payments in alliance and close partnership with IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Mastercard (NYSE: MA), the pioneered technology firm within the global payments arena in Saudi Arabia recently.
This alliance marks a vital milestone for payments innovation in the territory and is affiliated with Saudi Payments’ objective to progress the Kingdom’s financial ecosystem, corely through the adoption of swiftest payments as well as progression to banking reconciliation. Today, ‘sarie’ ropes in all Saudi banks across the Kingdom and is accessible for optimal utilization by their clients.
Under the Saudi Vision 2030, the introduction of ‘Sarie’ is in association with Saudi’s Financial Sectoral Development Programme (FSDP), that’s core target is for attaining 70% Non-Cash transactions within the year 2030.
Fahad Al-Akeel, Saudi Payments Managing Director, further stated out that: “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.”
Vice President and Country Business Development Lead, Saudi Arabia, Mastercard, Maria Medvedeva, stated out that: “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.”
Managing Partner, IBM GBS, Saudi Arabia, Dina Abo-Onoq, further stated out that: “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 nominated IBM Global Business Services (GBS), the services and consultancy arm of IBM, for main project as the System Integrator (SI) partner and a pioneered end-to-end digital payments solutions provider. IBM GBS considered and architected the solution via its complex system integration methodology, creation of a technical platform and integrated Mastercard’s instant payments platform into Saudi Payments’ existing infrastructure while connecting it to the IT systems of natively operating banks. Not only is this a milestone for payments innovation locally, it is the swiftest end-to-end rollout universally of a digital payments system of its kind and scale.
Mastercard’s innovative as well as the secured real-time payment technology was designated for the rollout by Saudi Payments, empowering individual and trades in the Kingdom to guide finances rapidly. It is part of the tech firm’s broader multi-rail strategy to pioneer payment innovation in the MEA territory across all digital payment rails, empowering individual and organizations to direct and receive the finances how, where, and when they choose, across both card and account-to-account payments rails.
Mastercard’s knowledge of real-time payments operations includes the launch of The Clearing House’s RTP® – the transformative real-time payment system in the U.S. – a progression of Mastercard’s extremely successful and dependable systems established for Swiftest Payments in the U.K., FAST in Singapore, and PromptPay in Thailand. Mastercard is currently offering real-time payments infrastructure technology for 12 of the major 50 Nations ranked by GDP.
Saudi Payments has fruitfully rolled out ‘Sarie’ across all banks operating natively by, utilizing the most advanced technology created on the latest ISO 20022 messaging standards. The determined system is anticipated to aid the native government, business, and client’s payment requirements across diverse payment flows, producing a more convenient and fast-tracked economic activity across the Kingdom.
