2013-02-24 | 2/MFCAdded
The regulation establishes licensing requirements, minimum paid-up capital thresholds ranging from 10 million to 200 million Saudi riyals depending on activity type, and fit-and-proper criteria for shareholders, board members, and senior management of Finance Companies. It mandates SAMA oversight through application procedures, capital adequacy compliance, and corporate governance standards, including the formation of specialized committees. The text defines key financial terms, prohibits unlicensed activities, and sets specific fees for license issuance, renewal, and amendment, alongside restrictions on profit distributions and asset acquisitions.
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Implementing Regulation of the Finance
Companies Control Law
Part One
Definitions and General Provisions
Article 1
The following words and phrases, wherever they appear, in this Regulation shall have the corresponding meanings, unless the context otherwise indicates:
Law: the Finance Companies Control Law.
Finance Laws: the Real Estate Finance Law, the Finance Lease Law and the Law Finance Companies Control Law. Regulation: the Implementing Regulation of the Finance Companies Control Law. SAMA: Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency. Governor: the Governor of Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency. Finance Company: a joint stock company licensed to carry out Finance activity. Borrower: a person receiving Finance. Consumer: a person to whom Finance Company’s services are directed. License: a license issued by SAMA to a company to carry out Finance activity. “Finance Activity” or “Finance Activities”: one or more types of Finance listed in Article 10 of the Law or any other Finance activities approved by SAMA pursuant to Article 10 of the Law. Finance: extending credit under contracts for the activities set out in the Law and the Regulation. Finance Agreement: a Finance Company extends credit for the activities set out in the Law and the Regulation. Installment: the Total Amount Payable by the Borrower distributed over the term of the Finance Agreement, minus non-recurring expenditures, expenses and costs such as fees, commissions and administrative services fees. Term Cost: the term cost to the Borrower under the Finance Agreement as a fixed annual or variable annual percentage applied to the Amount of Finance obtained by the Borrower. Total Cost of Finance: all the costs to be paid by the Borrower under a Finance Agreement other than the Amount of Finance, including Term Cost, fees, commissions, administrative services fees, insurance, and any charges required to obtain Finance excluding any expenses the Borrower can avoid such as costs or fees payable by the Borrower due to his breach of any of his obligations contained in the Finance Agreement. Amount of Finance: the ceiling or the total amounts made available to the Borrower under a Finance Agreement.
Total Amount Payable by the Borrower: the Amount of Finance and the Total Cost of Finance. Annual Percentage Rate: the discount rate calculated in accordance with the provisions of Article 81 of this Regulation. Board: the board of directors of the Finance Company. Senior Management: the managing director, chief executive officer, general manager, their deputies, the chief financial officer and directors of major departments, in addition to the officers in charge of risk management, internal audit and compliance functions in the Finance company. Exposure: the value of an asset that is subject to any credit risks, such as default risk or downgrade risk. Large Exposure: the exposure of one Borrower by (5%) or more of the paid capital and reserves of the Finance Company. Qualifying Interest: (5%) or more of the shares or the voting rights related to shares in the Finance Company whether held directly or indirectly either by one person or by several persons acting in concert.
Article 2
SAMA shall organize the Finance sector and supervise the business of the Finance Companies in accordance with the Law and the Regulation as the following:
Article 3
Any legal person engaging in one or more of the Finance Activities
specified in Article 10 of the Law, or any other Finance Activity approved by SAMA in accordance with Article 10 of the Law, shall be subject to the provisions of this Regulation.
Notwithstanding the provision of phargraph 1 of this Article, consumer
microfinance companies are subject to the rules issued by SAMA in this regard.
Part Two
Finance Companies Licensing
Article 4
No one is allowed to carry out any finance activity without obtaining a license from SAMA in accordance with the Law and the Regulation or other applicable laws.
Article 5
The finance of a natural or a legal person regarding the goods of their institution or services to their consumers will be subject to the controls and instructions issued by SAMA.
Article 6
The Finance Company shall not practice any activities, which it has not been licensed for under the Finance Laws and their regulations.
Article 7
Founding shareholders of the Finance Company, or their representatives, shall apply to SAMA for a License. The application shall specify the activities for which a License is requested, and includes the following:
Completed application form required by SAMA;
Draft articles of association and by-laws of the Finance Company;
Description of the organizational structure of the Finance Company
showing all necessary departments and functions and their main tasks;
List of all founding shareholders setting out the number and percentage
of shares that each founding shareholder will own;
Fit and proper requirements form for founding shareholders signed by
each founding shareholder;
Fit and proper requirements form for Board members signed by each
candidate for Board membership;
Feasibility study identifying target market, services to be provided,
business model, and strategy of the Finance Company in addition to a fiveyear business plan sets out at least the following:
a. Finance Activities, for which a license is requested, products and a marketing plan; b. Credit granting policies and procedures;
c. Estimated financial statements, projected annual revenue,
expenses and financial margins and targeted growth rates, taking into account the requirements of capital adequacy and liquidity assessments of the SAMA; d. Projected start-up costs and funding thereof; e. Projected ongoing financing of operations; f. Branch offices to be established; g. Plan and programs of monitoring and managing risks and compliance; h. Recruitment and training plan, including the projected number of employees and percentage of Saudi nationals at each department and each organizational level, and the training and qualification programs for employees.
An irrevocable bank guarantee issued in favour of SAMA by one of the
local banks for an amount equivalent to the required minimum capital for the Finance Activity or Activities, requested to be licensed, in accordance with the model set by the SAMA. Such bank guarantee is renewable automatically until the required capital is paid up in full. This guarantee shall be released upon the request of the founding shareholders in the following cases:
a. Paying up the capital in cash. b. Withdrawing the license application.
c. Refusing the license application by SAMA.
Drafts of proposed agreements and contracts with third parties, including
agreements and contracts with related parties and external service providers; and
Any other documents or information that SAMA may request.
Article 8
Subject to the provisions of the Companies Law, the minimum paid up capital of the Finance Company is as follows:
b. He must not have been declared bankruptcy or entered into a general settlement with any creditor;
c. He must not have been sentenced of a breach of trust offence, unless
rehabilitated and at least 10 years have passed since the last sanction for this crime has been completed and on the condition of obtaining a non-objecting letter from SAMA; d. Have not requested to withdraw license application to carry out Finance Activity in the last two years; e. He must not have a previous application to carry out Finance Activity refused by SAMA during the last five years; and f. He must have the sufficient financial solvency and shall not have breached any financial obligations towards his creditors nor there is an indication that he cannot continuously comply with his financial obligations towards his creditors.
2. In case of a founding shareholder or an owner of the Qualifying Interest
committing a prejudice to the Sharia or legal competence, or solvency stipulated by SAMA; SAMA may at any time band them from the right to vote on the decisions of the Finance Company or require receiving a written non-objection before practicing this right in order to preserve the integrity of the performance of the Finance Company, apply the principles of governance and protect the interests of stakeholders of the Finance Company.
3. A written non-objecting letter from SAMA is required prior to the
acquisition of any shares in a Finance Company that is not publically traded in the Saudi Stock Exchange “Tadawul”, or the acquisition of a Qualifying Interest in a Finance Company that is publically traded in the Saudi Stock Exchange “Tadawul”, and the acquirer of such shares shall be subject to the provisions of this Article in both cases.
4. If the founding shareholder or that who intends to acquire shares in
the Finance Company is an entity, the provisions of this Article shall apply on any who owns (5%) or more of the capital or of the right to vote in that entity.
Article 11
All Board members shall comply with the requirements of professional eligibility and fit and proper requirements stipulated by SAMA. In particular the following:
Laws or its regulations, or any other laws or regulations inside or outside the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia;
5. He must not have been declared bankruptcy or entered into a general
settlement with any creditor;
6. He must not have been sentenced of a breach of any trust offence,
unlessrehabilitated and at least 10 years have passed since the sanction for this offence has been completed and on condition that he receives a non-objecting letter from SAMA; and
7. He must have the sufficient financial solvency, and shall not have
breached any financial obligations towards his creditors nor there is an indication that he cannot continuously comply with his financial obligations towards his creditors.
Article 13
Article 15
F. Branch offices to be established;
G. Report on risks suffered by the Finance Company through the past five years, and how to manage and deal with it, including the risks of noncompliance and cases of violation of laws, regulations, or, instructions and future plan and programs of the company to manage risks and compliance. H. Current number of employees and the percentage of Saudi nationals thereof at each department and each organizational level.
I. Recruitment and training plan, including training and qualification
programsfor employees.
2. The financial charges required for renewing the License;
3. Any other documents and information that SAMA may request.
Article 18
The Finance Company must not cease any of its activities for more than three consecutive months unless SAMA has granted its prior written approval, and without prejudice to the Company’s obligations towards its creditors, shareholders or the integrity of the financial system.
Article 19
The Finance Company may apply for an amendment of the License for addition or deletion of some Finance Activities or amendment of any term or limitation thereof. Amendment application must be based on reasonable justifications and accompanied by any documents, information or studies required by SAMA.
Article 20
Article 21
The Finance Company must cease its Finance Activities with immediate effect if the License is suspended according to Article 29 of the Law, and may not practice any of these activities unless a non-objection letter has been obtained from SAMA thereupon.
Article 22
Article 26
The Finance Company shall obtain a non-objecting letter from SAMA prior to the approval of any distribution of profits, any other distributions, the recommendation of it or announcing it, after making sure of the following:
The distribution does not cause capital adequacy, or liquidity to drop
below the required levels;
The distributions of the fiscal year must not exceed the actual net
profit for the previous fiscal year; and
Any other conditions set by SAMA.
Part Four
Ownership and Assets
Article 27
No acquisition of assets other than those necessary to manage its
business shall be executed by the Finance Company unless it has obtained a non-objection letter from SAMA;
The Finance Company may not execute any partial or total liquidation of
its business or of the Finance Company itself without a non-objecting letter from SAMA.
Part Five
Corporate Goverance
Article 28
The Finance Company must comply with corporate governance rules determined by SAMA.
Article 29
The Finance Company shall develop an internal corporate governance rules and implement a specific regulation for corporate governance and provide SAMA with a copy of the regulation after its approval by the Board. The corporate governance code shall at least address the following:
The description of the organizational structure, including all departments
and functions and their tasks and responsibilities;
Independence and separation of duties;
Roles of the Board, its committees, and the composition and
duties of each.
Remuneration and compensation policies;
Conflict of interest controls;
Integrity and transparency controls;
Compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
Methods for securing confidentiality of
information;
Fair dealing; and
Protection of Company’s assets.
Article 30
The Board must form specialized committees to expand the scope of work in the areas requiring special expertise, including at least an audit committee and a risk management and credit committee, and shall grant those committees the necessary powers to perform their work and monitor their performance.
Part Six
Internal Organizing
Article 31
The Finance Company must establish appropriate written organizational policies, thatincludes work manuals and workflow procedures. Those policies must be kept up to date on a regular basis and they must be communicated to the concerned staff in a suitable and timely manner. The organizational policies must include rules for at least the following:
1.The organizational and operational structure, decision making and responsibilities;
Credit granting and operations;
3.Financial management and accounting;
4.Marketing and sales;
5.Information technology and security;
Customer service and collection;
7.Identifying, assessing, treating, monitoring and disclosing risks; 8.Internal supervision system; 9.Internal audit; 10.Committing to the related laws, regulations and instructions ;
Assigning tasks to external service providers; and
Salaries, bonuses and incentives, including the salaries of members
of Senior Management and staff and their motivation and remuneration of the Board and its committees.
Article 32
It is prohibited in the Finance Company to combine an executive function such as financing or hedging and oversight function such as internal auditing or accounting tasks. A separation of functions must be adopted in a manner that ensures the application of the generally accepted policies, procedures, and technical standards, to protect the Finance Company’s assets and funds, and avoid fraud and embezzlement.
Article 33
The Finance Company’s technical facilities and related systems must
be adequate according to industry standards for the Finance Company’s operational needs, the nature of its activities, and risk situation.
Information technology systems and the related processes must be
designed in a manner that ensures data integrity, availability, authenticity and confidentiality. Information technology systems and the related processes must be assessed on a regular basis in accordance to the general accepted technical standards and tested before they are used for the first time and after any changes have been made.
The Finance Company must establish a business continuity plan for
emergency cases that ensures an alternative solution to re-operate in an appropriate period of time.
Article 34
All business documents, records and files must be kept in an orderly, transparent and safe manner by the Finance Company. They must be kept up to date and completed and retained for at least ten years from the date of termination of the client’s relationship.
Article 35
The Finance Company must have sufficient and eligible staff regarding knowledge and experience in order to fulfill its operational needs, business activities and risks situation. The remuneration and incentives of staff must be fair and aligned with the Finance Company’srisk management strategy and must not create conflicting interests.
Article 36
At least (50%) of all employees of the Finance Company must be Saudi
nationals when the Finance Company starts operations. The (50%) minimum applies to all departments and organizational levels.
The percentage of Saudi nationals of total human resources shall be
annually increased by (5%) of all employees until (75%) has been reached. SAMA may determine the minimum required annual increase thereafter.
Recruitment of non-Saudisin the Finance Company shall be limited to jobs
thatrequire expertise not available in the Saudi labor market. In all cases, the Finance Company must obtain a non-objection letter from SAMA before appointing any non-Saudi employee in supervision departments provided that the Company has proved the lack of Saudis for the vacant position.
Part Seven
Outsourcing
Article 37
The Board must issue a written policy regulating outsourcing. It must
be updated annually. This policy shall include in particular the following:
a. Terms of reference and responsibilities of the Board and Senior Management; b. Eligibility criteria for outsourcing provider;
c. Risk identification criteria and risk hedging measures;
d. Rules for the continuous monitoring and controlling of outsourced operations; e. Criteria to identify conflicts of interest, if any, rules and procedures which ensure safeguarding the interests of the Finance Company and not putting the interest of the other party over the company's interest; and f. Procedures to protect information and maintain confidentiality and privacy.
SAMA, the Finance Company, and the external auditor must have the
authority to obtain any information or documents related to the work of the outsourcing provider or be examined in the offices of the outsource provider.
The Finance Company must verify the outsourcing provider’s
compliance with the applicable laws, regulations, and instructions. The Finance Company remains responsible in case of the outsourcing provider’s non-compliance with the applicable laws, regulations and instructions in any operations and tasks that are assigned to him.
The Finance Company must obtain a non-objecting letter from SAMA
prior to any outsourcing arrangement that, in case of disruption or other default, may have an impact on the Finance Company’s activities, reputation or financial situation, or if the tasks assigned included transferring, processing or saving the data and information of the Borrowers. In this case, the outsourcing provider may not subcontract these tasks to another provider.
Part Eight
Risk Management
Article 38
The Finance Company must:
Establish a clear written business strategy and a written risk
management policy approved and updated annually by the Board. The risk management policy should take into account all relevant types of risks and how to deal with them, taking into consideration all business activities, including operations and tasks that have been outsourced. The risk management policy must include analysis for at least the following risks:
a. Credit risks; b.Market risks;
c. Term Cost rate risks;
d. Incompatibility of assets with liabilities risks; e. Exchange rate risks; f. Liquidity risks; g.Operational risk; h. Country risks;
i. Legal risks;
j. Reputation risks; k. Technology risks.
Establish appropriate procedures to identify, assess, manage,
monitor and communicate risks. These processes must be included in a comprehensive risk management framework that ensures the following:
a. Early and comprehensive identification of risks; b. Assessment of correlations between risks; and
c. Immediate coordination with Senior Management, the Board, risk
and credit management committee and the responsible staff, and where appropriate, the internal audit department.
Establish a risk management function directly reporting to the risk
and credit management committee. Risk and credit management committee must raise their views about risk management reporting to the Board.
Article 39
The Finance Company must prepare a quarterly risk report for discussion by the risk and credit management committee and the Board after review by Senior Management. The report must include as a minimum the following:
A comprehensive overview of the risk development and performance
of financial positions that incur market price risks, as well as any instances in which the limits have been exceeded;
Changes to assumptions or parameters which form the basis of risk
assessment procedures;
The performance of the Finance portfolio by activity, risk class and size
and collateral category;
The extent of limits granted and external credit lines; Large Exposures
as defined in Article 55 of this Regulation and other significant Exposures, such as default Finance, must be listed and commented on;
Analysis of the conditions in which the Finance Company exceeded the
limits and the reasons thereof, the scale and development of new business, and Finance Company’s risk provisioning; and
Any major Finance decisions which deviate from the strategies or
policies of the Finance Company.
Article 40
The Finance Company must submit to SAMA the report referred to in Article (Thirty-Nine) of this Regulation, after being discussed and approved by credit and risk management committee and the Board, along with the decisions made in this regard.
Part Nine
Compliance
Article 41
The Finance Company must comply with applicable laws, regulations and instructions. It must also take the necessary measures and procedures to avoid breaching its provisions.
Article 42
The Finance Company must:
Article 44
The head of compliance must submit a compliance report to the audit committee and thereafter to the Board for review on quarterly basis at least. The compliance report must identify the main compliance-related risks facing the Finance Company, analyze existing processes and procedures and assess their viability and,suggest any amendments or changes thereto.
Article 45
The compliance department must have staff and resources commensurate with the business model and size of the Finance Company. Compliance employees must report solely to the head of compliance.
Article 46
The compliance department must ensure the Finance Company’s compliance with applicable laws, regulations and circulars. It has, without limitation, the following tasks:
Article 47
The Finance Company must develop internal policies and procedures of antifinancial crimes, specifically money laundering and financing terrorism. Therefore,the standards of (Know Your Client) should be applied and taking the necessary actions to report to the financial investigation unit of any suspected activities or processes.
Part Ten
Internal Audit
Article 48
The Finance Company must establish an internal audit department
reporting directly to the audit committee. The internal audit department shall be independent in performing its duties, and its employees shall not be assigned any other responsibilities.
The internal audit department manages and assesses the internal
control system and to assure the extent to which the company and employees, comply with the applicable laws, regulations, circulars and Finance Company’s policies and procedures, whether outsourced or not. The internal audit department must have full and unlimited access to information and documents.
Article 49
The internal audit department shall operate according to a comprehensive audit plan, approved by the audit committee and updated on an annual basis. Major activities and operations, including those related to risk management and compliance, must be audited annually.
Article 50
The internal audit department must prepare and submit to audit
committee a written report on its work at least quarterly. This report must include the scope of the audit, all findings and recommendations. It must also include the procedures taken by each department in respect of the findings and recommendations of the previous auditing and any related observations, especially if they have not been settled on time and the reasons for their unsettlement.
The internal audit department must prepare and submit to the audit
committee a written general report on all audits in a fiscal l year, compared with the approved plan and stating any gaps or deviation from the plan, if any. This report shall be submitted within the first quarter following the end of the relevant fiscal year.
Article 51
The Financing Company shall maintain the working documents and audit reports that, show in a transparent manner the work carried out, as well as findings and recommendations and what has been accomplished regarding these recommendations.
Part Eleven
Finance Policies and Procedures
Chapter One
Finance Policies
Article 52
The Finance Company shall define written Finance policies setting out
rules and procedures for granting Finance, including but not limited to, classification of credit worthiness, procedures for dealing with, deteriorating credit rating and default Finance, types of accepted collaterals, methods for calculating their values, monitoring, administration and enforcement of collateral, and risk provisioning.
All Finance policies and all amendments to policies must be approved
by the Board and submitted to SAMA by the Finance Company.
Chapter Two
Exposure Limits
Article 53
Exposure includes the value of all assets that subject to any credit risks, including but not limited to, Finance Agreements; securities; and advanced payments to other entities and clients; all commitments or other obligationsto grant Finance or to make a payment or deliver assets to a third party with a right of recourse against a client or another third party, equity, participating interests and assets in respect of which the Finance Company is the lessor.
Article 54
c. Any person directly or indirectly holding or controlling (5%) or
more of the capital or voting rights of the Finance Company, and any entity in which such person directly or indirectly holds or controls (5%) or more of the entity’s capital or voting rights; d. Any person directly or indirectly holds or controls (5%) or more of any class of securities that give their holders the right to a share of the profits or income of the Finance Company; e. Any entity in which the Finance Company directly orindirectly holds or controls (5%) or more of the shares or interests or voting rights; and f. Any ancestor or descendant up to the second degree, or spouse of any of the personslisted in the preceding Subparagraphs(a)through (d).
2. In accordance with Article 12 of the Law, the Finance Company may
incur an Exposure to a related party only on a commercial basis and after obtaining sufficient collateral so that the Finance may not exceed (60%) of the collateral, and if the Finance is more than (500,000) five hundred thousand riyals, there must be a consensus decision of the Board to do so.
3. The Finance Company may not incur an Exposure to a related party of
(10%) or more of its paid-up capital and reserves without obtaining a non-objecting letter from SAMA. In all cases, the aggregate of all Exposuresto related parties must not exceed (50%) of the paid-up capital and reserves of the Finance Company.
4. The Finance Company must not incur any Exposure to a related party
that either directly or indirectly holds or controls (25%) or more of the shares, interests or voting rights in the Finance Company or in which the Finance Company holds or controls directly or indirectly (25%) or more of the shares, interests or voting rights.
5. The Finance Companymust notincur an Exposure to any of its employees
that is not a related party in excess of four months’ salary of such employee, except through Finance programs organized by the company for its employees, approved by the Board and after obtaining a non-objecting letter from SAMA.
Article 59
Article 61
In exception to the provisions of Article 60 of this Regulation, the Finance Company may grant Finance without a collateral, if the following applies:
Part Twelve
Account and Deposits
Article 65
The Finance Company must not accept term deposits or non-banking credit facilities or similar or open any type of accounts to its clients unless a non-objecting letter from SAMA is obtained.
Part Thirteen
Trading Securities
Article 66
Without prejudice to Paragraph 3 of Article 11 of the Law, the Finance Company shall not own securities such as stocks, bonds, SUKUK and derivatives except in the following cases:
Article 68
The Finance Company may not be financed by a foreign lender or in a currency other than Saudi Riyal unless a non-objecting letter from SAMA is obtained.
Part Fifteen
Structural Changes
Article 69
The Finance Company must obtain a non-objecting letter from SAMA before appointing persons in the following functions and tasks:
a. Membership of the Board and its committees. b. Managing director, chief executive officer, general manager, their designees, financial manager and directors of the key departments, or their designees.
c. Managers of control functions, such as internal audit, risk
management and compliance, or their designees.
Article 70
The Finance Company must immediately notify SAMA of:
Article 73
Without prejudice to the requirements of other laws, the Finance Company must establish a website on the World Wide Web (the Internet) and publish its annual financial statements and reports including the following:
1.Statement of financial postions;
2. Income statement;
3. Cash flows statement; and
4. Boards report.
Article 74
The Finance Company must obtain a prior non-objecting letter from
SAMA before appointing an external auditor. SAMA has the right to require the Finance Company to appoint another auditor if the size and nature of the company’s operation so requires.
SAMA may require the Finance Company to replace its external
auditor or may appoint another external auditor at the expense of the Finance Company in any of the following cases:
a. When necessary due to the size or the nature of the business; b. The external auditor has committed a breach of professional obligations;
c. There is a reason to believe that the external auditor has a conflict of
interest; or d. When necessary for the protection of the Finance sector or governance considerations and the protection of shareholder’s interest.
The external auditor must report to SAMA immediately all facts of
which he obtains knowledge in the course of an audit and which:
a. Might justify the reservation in the audit report or refrain from expressing opinion; b. Jeopardize the existence of the Finance Company;
c. Seriously impair the Finance Company’s development, or
d. Indicate that the managers have breached any laws, regulations, instructions applicable in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia or the by-laws of the Finance Company. e. Terminate the agreement before it ends with the reasons thereupon.
SAMA may require the external auditor to explain his report or to
reveal other facts that may have come to his attention during the audit which indicates any violation of the laws, the regulations, the instructions or the by-laws of the Finance Company.
Article 75
The Finance Company, its Board members, and employees must provide all information and documentation concerning the Finance Company, its business, its shareholders, and its personnel, that SAMA may request at any time.2. SAMA hasthe right to inspect the records and accounts of the Finance Company, through SAMA’s personnel or by auditors appointed by SAMA, provided that the inspection shall be at the Finance Company’s premises.
The Finance Company and its employees shall facilitate the task of whom
SAMA appoints for inspection and cooperate with them particularly as follows:
a. Provide the inspector with the Finance Company’s records, accounts, and documents that he deems necessary to perform his task; b. Provide information and explanations as required by the inspector.
c. Disclose any violations or irregularities in the Finance
Company’s operations to the inspector at the beginning of his mission. d. Adhere to the recommendations and instructions given by SAMA to the Finance Company to address the uncovered observations through the inspection’s rounds.
The Finance Company and any of its employees may not hide or attempt
to hide any information or irregularities or fail to provide any clarifications requested by the appointed inspector or neglect to provide him with requested information and documents on time.
SAMA’s employees in charge of the supervision, control, and inspection
shall not be vulnerable to any claims as a result of performing their duties.
Article 76
Every violation of the provisions of the Law and the Regulation or the noncompliance to any of the rules or circulars issued by SAMA is a violation
related to the professional irregularity referred to in Article 29 of the Law;
every violation that endanger the shareholders of the Finance Company or
their creditors as referred to in Article 29 of the Law, is as follows:
A. There is a material adverse change in the business, or in the financial or legal or administrative situation of the Finance Company that might endangersits existence orits ability to pay its debts asthey fall due; B. The Finance Company incurs a loss amounting to one-half of its paidup capital;
C. The Finance Company incurs a loss amounting to more than (10%)
of its paid-up capital in each of at least four consecutive fiscal years; or
Article 77
The Finance Company must reimburse all costs of a third party appointed by SAMA as a consequence of procedures taken under this Part.
Part Eighteen
Consumer Protection in Finance Services
Article 78
Finance Agreements must be drawn up on paper or electronically between the Finance Company and the Borrower and each contracting party must receive a copy of the Finance Agreement. The Finance Agreement must include at least the following data and information:
Names of the parties of Finance Agreement, No of ID or Iqama or
Borrower’s CR, as the case may be, their official addresses, means of contact including mobile numbers and e-mails, if available.
Type of Finance;
Term of the Finance Agreement;
Amount of Finance;
Conditions to drawdown the Amount of Finance if available;
The description of price determination formula in Finance
Agreements with variable Term Cost in order to enable the consumer to understand the Term Cost, and distribute the cost on the fulfillment period;
Term Cost, the conditions governing the application of the Term
Cost and any index or reference rate applicable to the initially agreed Term Cost, as well as the periods, conditions and procedures for changing the Term Cost;
Annual Percentage Rate;
Total Amount Payable by the Borrower, calculated at the time of
concluding the Finance Agreement; the assumptions used in order to calculate that amount must be mentioned;
The amount of Installments payable by the Borrower and their
number and duration, and the method of distributing them on the remaining amounts, in case of fixed Term Cost. Three examples of Installments amount in consideration to the preliminary Term Cost and two higher and lower costs in case of variable Term Cost.
Fees, commissions and costs of administrative services;
Periods of fees payments or money that needs to be repaid without
the payment of the Amount of Finance and the conditions of the payment;
Implications of the delayed Installments payment;
Documentation fees, if necessary,
Necessary guaranty and insurance;
Account number for depositing Finance Installments and the name of
the bank.
Right of withdrawal procedures, if available, and its conditions and
the financial obligations of its practice;
The procedures of early repayment and indemnity procedures for
the Finance Company, if applicable, and the method for determining such indemnity;
Procedures for dealing with collaterals in case of decreasing, if available,
Procedure to be followed in exercising the right of termination of
the Finance Agreement;
The Borrower’s permission to insert his information in the
credit record;
Any data or information stipulated by SAMA.
Article 79
The Finance Agreement shall bear on its forefront a summary containing the basic information of the Finance product and the main provisions of the Finance Agreement in a clear language for the Borrower, in accordance with the model determined by SAMA and documenting the receipt of this summary by the Borrower in the Finance file.
Article 80
If permitted by Finance Agreement, the Finance Company must inform the Borrower in writing of any change in the Term Cost before the change enters into force in the duration of no less than two months, if the Finance Agreement allows such change. Company must also inform the Borrower, via the official addresses agreed upon on the Finance Agreement, of the amount of Installments to be paid under the new Term Cost and the details concerning the number of Installments or their duration if changed.
Article 81
Sd the period between the date on which the Amount of Finance or the first payment is available to the Borrower and the date of payment (d), calculated in years and parts of the year, and so that this period of first payment received by the Borrower from the Amount of Finance is zero (s1=0) n is the last payment payable by the Borrower. p is the payment payable by the Borrower. Bp is the payment value (p) payable by the Borrower. Tp the period between the date on which the Amount of Finance or the first payment is available to the Borrower and the date of the payment (p) to be received from the Borrower, calculated in years and parts of the year. X is the Annual Percentage Rate.
2. For the purpose of calculating the Annual Percentage Rate, the periods
between the date on which the Amount of Finance or the first payment is available to the Borrower and the date of every payment received or payable by the borrower shall be calculated on the basis of (12) months or (365) days a year.
3. For the purpose of calculating the Annual Percentage Rate, the Total
Amount Payable by the Borrower must be specified including fees, commissions and costs that cannot be avoid by the Borrower, with the elimination of costs or fees payable by the Borrower due to his breach to any of his obligations contained in the Finance Agreement.
4. It is a must to calculate the Annual Percentage Rate, assuming validity of
Finance Agreement for the agreed period of time and both parties commitment to their obligations according to the conditions contained in the Finance Agreement.
5. In accordance with Paragraph 10 of Article 78 ofthis Regulation, in the case
of Finance Agreement containing clauses allowing variations in the Term Cost and fees contained in the Annual Percentage Rate which cannot be calculated, the Annual Percentage Rate must be calculated on the assumption that the Term Cost and other charges remain fixed in relation to the initial Term Cost and remain applicable until the end of the Finance Agreement.
Article 85
Article 88
Article 92
SAMA’s employee that is in charge of control, investigation and prosecution procedures shall:
Article 96
SAMA shall refer crimes and violations that are not within its jurisdiction to the body concerned with investigation and prosecution.
Article 97
SAMA may exempt Finance Companies from some of the provisions in this Regulation without prejudice to the provisions of the Law and as required by the conditions of the sector.
Article 98
Compliance with Articles (78, 79, 81, 82, 83 and 84) of the Implementing Regulation of the Finance Companies Control Law is optional when dealing with small, medium and large enterprises.
Article 99
Companies and establishments engaging in finance activities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia prior to the Law’s entry into force must provide SAMA, within the first nine months of the period prescribed in Article (36) of the Law, with their plan to correct their situation according to the Law or a plan to exit the market.
Article 100
A committee, or more, will be formed by a decision of the Governor to be responsible for presenting the proposals and recommendations necessary to develop the finance sector.
Article 101
The necessary rules and instructions for the implementation of regulatory and supervisory requirements of the finance sector shall be issued by a decision of the Governor.
Article 102
This Regulation comes into effect as of the date of its publication on the official gazette.
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Amended 1 time · last 2025-12-22
Source: Saudi Central Bank — original document · Summary generated with machine assistance and reviewed before publication; the authoritative text is the regulator's original document. How RegAlert works
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