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Saudi Arabia's Saudi Payments Network is teaming up with IBM and Mastercard to launch instant payments in the kingdom. The country’s new instant payments system — called "sarie" — aligns with Saudi Vision 2030 and Saudi Arabia's Financial Sector Development Program (FSDP).
The Saudi Payments Network is the only payment system used in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, according to a press release on Wednesday (April 21). "The instant payments system 'sarie' can enable us to drive usage and engagement across the Saudi payments ecosystem of banks and businesses,” according to Fahad Al-Akeel, managing director, Saudi Payments. Al-Akeel added that this move will be the base for “new payments business initiatives” for Saudi financial institutions and will lead to financial inclusion and “banking reconciliation” in the country. “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 toward achieving the assigned goals in vision 2030," he said. Sarie gives banking customers the ability to send and receive up to SAR 20,000 ($5,300) in real time and to send up to SAR 2,500 ($660) using aliases like a mobile number, email address, ID number or IBAN number.
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