Emphasis on Opening Bank Accounts and Providing Necessary Services to Commercial Enterprises and Private Schools Under the Wage Protection Program

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority Head Office

General Department for Payment Systems

Reference No.: 9040991628 Attachments:

Circular

Reference No.: 351000061537 Date: 12/05/1435 AH Corresponding Date:

To the Esteemed,

Greetings:

Subject: Emphasis on Cooperation, Opening Bank Accounts, and Providing Necessary Services to Commercial Enterprises and Private Schools Subject to the Wage Protection Program.

With reference to the Wage Protection Program, which is one of the Ministry of Labor's initiatives to monitor monthly salary disbursements for all male and female employees in private sector enterprises, aiming to determine the extent of compliance by enterprises with paying salaries on time and at the agreed amount, and in continuation of this Authority's circular No. 35100013218 dated 28/01/1435 AH regarding the necessity for all banks to comply and be ready to receive and process payroll files under the "Wage Protection Program" system from commercial enterprises.

We inform you of complaints received by the Authority from commercial enterprises regarding some bank branches' lack of readiness to answer inquiries about the subscription mechanism for the Wage Protection Program system and staff's unfamiliarity with it. The Authority wishes to emphasize the importance of this national project, and the necessity for relevant departments in banks to provide adequate training to bank staff to handle requests from commercial enterprises upon receipt. We also wish to highlight the importance of designating specific communication channels through which inquiries related to the program will be received and answered in the future.

We hope for your compliance, dissemination to all relevant departments and branches, and providing the Authority with the contact addresses mentioned above within two weeks from its date.

Yours sincerely,

Hisham bin Uthman Al-Haqeel Deputy Governor for Banking Operations

Distribution Scope:

• Banks operating in the Kingdom
• Authority departments

Phone (11) 9662015, Fax (11) 9662851, P.O. Box 2992, Riyadh 11169, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia GDPS@SAMA.GOV.SA