"Your excellencies, Distinguished guests, Peace, mercy and blessings of Allah.
We are pleased to celebrate with you the launch of the Middle East Financial and Payment Technology Exhibition and Conference (MEFTECH) in its 15th edition. It will be held for the second year in a row in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The conference is one of the most important specialized conferences under one roof. The introduction of new ideas and visions and the review of technologies that will change the direction of the financial sector, pave the way for the adoption of future business models in banks, institutions and individuals to pay and receive payments.
I would like to take this opportunity to pay tributes to the great cooperation we have seen from all relevant government sectors and local banks in the past to achieve the initiatives of the Financial Sector Development Program associated with digital transformation, entrepreneurship support and the development of financial technology to meet the 2030 Vision in order to achieve common goals, foremost of which is the elevation of our dear homeland.
One of the main objectives of SAMA is reducing the dependence on cash circulation through the continuous development of the infrastructure of national payment systems to facilitate the transition to an electronic payment environment that directly contribute to the promotion of conversion to a non-monetary society; one of the objective of the Financial Development Program. Our meeting today at MEFTECH conference represents an extension of the Kingdom's progress and development of its digital payment systems. This event provides an opportunity for discussion between experts and specialists to review the most important companies' offers in this field that touch our daily life significantly.
Over the past two and a half decades, SAMA has begun developing payments systems in the Kingdom and enriching them with latest technologies that contributes to the advancement economic development in our country while ensuring the independence of these systems from the political and international changes. These efforts have materialized in the forming and developing of the national payments systems Mada, Sadad, Sarie and Esal, which we are proud that they managed to handle over 2.3 billion transactions over the last year alone with a total financial value exceeding SR 50 trillion. In order to give these systems the opportunity to develop and keep abreast with international best practice, SAMA established by the end of the last year the Saudi Payment Systems and it was given the operation and the management of the national payment systems. On top of its priorities is the taking care of the standards of these systems and adapt them to perform their role in enabling the linking of all service providers; both from the banking sector and financial technology companies, creating competent environment between all parties for the interest of the end-user and enriching the digital payments sector as a whole. SAMA role will remain as a legislative body, which works to develop regulatory framework, update policies and licenses for the work of these parties and monitor them to serve the objectives for which they were founded and in particular reduce cash circulation in all commercial sectors.
One of the most important advantages of effective payment systems is the harmonization of its work according to the principle of interoperability and standardization among all parties involved. The term has been extensively circulated in the corridors of international organization. It reflects the importance of a common infrastructure that enables electronic payments providers to interact with each other in order to enable the customer of using all channels and avoid unconnected payments systems that does not serve our approach for a non-cash society and the expansion of the financial inclusion. In order to achieve the objective of this compatibility, SAMA has worked on the Saudi Payments during the past period to unite the smart devices payments' standards through QR code technology in a way that helps to boost and facilitate level of service and made it available through a unified window serves all customers of electronic portfolios of different brands. This will be followed by the development of an integrated payment environment that allows all parties to benefits from this service in accordance with the Open Loop Payment Environment. This means that both traders, individual customers and service providers will be centrally linked to complete payments through the same code regardless of the service provider. The move comes from SAMA with the goal to regulate the electronic payments sector and maintain the required safety standards in the light of the expected spread of this technology within the small retailers to continue the process by opening up the chance for new facilities to participate within the national payment system and provide innovative customer services.
In conclusion, the objectives of the ambitious financial sector development program will be achieved only through the cooperation of all parties, relentless efforts to raise he level of services, improve the customer experience and the optimal interaction with risks and opportunities equally. SAMA seeks to promote constructive cooperation between banks and the public and private sectors, push the wheel of development and innovation in the financial services in order to achieve the overall objectives of the sector while promoting fair competition and developing the great gains achieved by the Kingdom in all fields.
Peace, mercy and blessing of All…"
