Expats’ bank accounts under Strict Monitoring – SAMA

Monitoring of Expatriate Bank Accounts

All of the banks operating in Saudi Arabia will soon start the monitoring process of all of the accounts belonging to expats who have any deposits which are not in accordance with their income sources which are known or declared.

In accordance with the new instructions issued by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), all banks will be obligated to inform the Ministry of Commerce and Industry about any deposits which do not match or exceed the salaries and/or any other source of income that the account holder has.

The source of income must be declared to banks

All sources of income must be completely declared to the banks and other relevant authorities. Those who fail to do so can face serious legal consequences which might end up in the authorities seizing the undeclared income or even end up in deportation in extreme cases.

The new measure by SAMA has come in line with the efforts put in by the Ministry of Labor to try and limit some of the commercial activities being carried out by expatriates, which is more commonly known as tasattur.

Don’t accept a bank deposit on behalf of others

It is important that everyone take this matter seriously. We should not accept any deposit to our bank account on behalf of others. Sometimes friends and family members ask us to receive some money on their behalf.

The issue is that you don’t know the person from whom you have received the money and at the time of an inquiry, you would not be able to justify this deposit in your bank account.

Source: Al Arabiya