The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) has required banks and financial institutions not to deduct any amounts from customer accounts without a court ruling or decision, or without obtaining the customer’s prior consent, or unless the financing contract explicitly covers such deductions, or to freeze customer accounts or balances—even temporarily—and to prevent customers from accessing the funds available in their accounts without a court ruling or decision.

SAMA also mandated that debt be rescheduled (mandatorily) in the event of a proven change in the customer’s circumstances, without granting new financing, without any additional fees, and without any change in the cost of the term, in accordance with the customer’s wishes.

Ahmed bin Abdullah Al-Sheikh, Deputy Governor for Supervision at the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA), that these new regulations apply to banks, financial institutions, and finance companies under the Authority’s supervision, with the aim of regulating collection mechanisms and communication with individual customers and their guarantors in a manner that enables lenders to follow clear and specific procedures that protect the rights of all parties involved, and to establish the necessary standards to ensure that employees are committed to providing customers with accurate and professional information regarding their current delinquency status and the regulatory measures that the financing entity is entitled to take.

The Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA) emphasized to banks and finance companies operating in the Kingdom the need for full compliance with the provisions of these regulations in the context of treating customers fairly and equitably at all stages of their relationship.