SARIE System Features and Capabilities

Distinctive Features

The SARIE System is an outstanding system which combines high-value and high-volume payments.

Real Time Gross Settlements

The SARIE System is a comprehensive system featuring real-time gross settlement which provides participants with immediate financial transfer facilities in SAR, through their accounts with SAMA. It also operates for twenty-four hours a day throughout the year allowing maximum utilization of the system’s facilities, in addition it ensures non–repudiation of payment completion, and it gives participants easy access to their accounts with SAMA and to monitor and control their financial positions on an ongoing basis.

Improving Efficiency

The SARIE System provides operating characteristics to improve the efficiency of Saudi Arabia’s financial system in a variety of ways.

First, reducing the liquidity requirements for funds transfer.
Secondly, reducing the time taken to complete funds transfer.
Thirdly, enabling banks to control and use liquidity more effectively by allowing financial positions and liquidity management on a continuous basis.
Finally, the disposal of paper-based processes and procedures that had been used previously is a benefit for all.

Supporting International Standards on Money Transfer

The SARIE system is designed primarily to provide a service to facilitate internal remittances in SAR, but by the recognizing importance of international financial transactions, the SARIE system is designed in a way to be consistent with existing and proposed international standards of financial transfers across borders. For example, SARIE's messages are formatted in accordance with the SWIFT international standards.

Forward Payments

One of the main features of SARIE system is its ability to apply maturing forward payments in a single process. Moreover it can process high-value transactions and bulk payments and debit requests. In particular, the system is capable of settling inter-bank,payroll and periodic payments such as billing invoices of utilities services.

Total Netting for Clearing Settlements

The SARIE system combines all settlement results of clearing systems such as:

Saudi payments network (SPAN),
Saudi stock market (TADAWUL),
Automated Clearing House (ACH),
Other clearing houses

into one clearing netting payment. This settlement is applied to participants’ accounts with SAMA, which reduces risks associated with different net settlements arising from these clearing systems.

Information Security Features

The SARIE System has a number of advance security features to ensure that it operates smoothly and in a fully controlled environment. These features include:

Digital signatures are used to guarantee the origin of payment messages.
All communication lines used for the SARIE system are encrypted.
Access to the SARIE system is secured through the use of smart cards.
All SARIE sites are tightly controlled with access to the system being provided only to authorized personnel.
There is a full dual configuration and contingency sites.
There are additional features in place relating to security of transactions, security of reporting, and resilience of systems, etc.

The security features are continuously reviewed and updated in order to ensure that the system remains safe, secure and reliable.