Account monitoring: Banks help govt curb violations

Saudi banks will monitor expat bank accounts to ensure that their income is proportionate with their monthly salaries. The move comes in a bid to stop expats from taking on jobs other than what is specified on their residency permits in accordance with new labor laws.
Expats often open up small businesses to supplement mediocre monthly wages, but many have since closed down their operations, fearing punitive action. Expats have been able to send remittances worth SR109 billion during the current year, thanks to such commercial activity.
Talaat Hafiz, secretary-general of the Media and Banking Awareness Committee of Saudi Banks (MBAC), confirmed that the new banking system will ban expats who are not authorized to work from opening bank accounts.
“Saudi banks routinely monitor transactions to ensure that the amount of money being transferred is relative to a client’s average income. Saudi banks also apply ‘know your client’ strategies designed to examine the clients’ identification,” Hafiz said.
Personal documents are verified to confirm they are genuine. “Banks that suspect irregular activity may notify police for investigation.”
Saudi banks have recently received around 4 million requests from expatriates working in the private sector to open new bank accounts.
Yet many expats have one bank account for their monthly salary and a second for the extra income made from private business ventures.
“I work as a designer at a private company and I earn a monthly salary of only about SR4,000,” Siraj Atti, a Yemeni resident in Jeddah, told Arab News.
“I therefore design commercial logos and advertisements for other companies to increase my income. With the new banking system, however, I will have to stop my business,” he said.
Abu Samer, a Syrian resident, told Arab News of his similar fate.
“I had opened up a small restaurant on Palestine Street, but will close it down to avoid trouble with labor authorities,” he said.