Ministry won’t allow GBA to audit bank accounts

The Ministry of Finance will not allow the General Auditing Bureau (GBA) to observe the accounts of banks. The GBA asked this permission to ensure that banks would properly comply with all rules.
The Minister of Finance said in a letter to the Shoura Council that the auditing system that Saudi Arabia Monetary Agency (SAMA) uses to control commercial banks accounts is good enough. Dealing with companies differs from dealing with banks, as these have to answer to several observation bodies, without crossing the privacy of these banks and accounts.
“I don’t think its worth the trouble to let banks be observed by other auditing bodies, especially when these banks are private sector and the General Auditing Bureau is a governmental body,” said Fadhul Albuainain, a banking expert.
“The GBA has failed to achieve many tasks that had been set for them, so how would they succeed with banks? According to the Saudi system, three bodies regulate all banks. First, is the board council of each bank, second are the accountants hired from financial companies, and finally SAMA.”
What the GBA is asking for is not a fair requirement, he said. It would be much better if the GBA would ask to reduce the government share in banks, which is estimated at 25 percent, to achieve full privatization, said Albuainain.
“Reducing the share of the government in banks and including them in Tadawul (Saudi stock exchange) would be a great step. Also, it would be great if the government could allocate these 25 percent shares for insurance or retirement payment,” Albuainain said.
Albuainain said that auditing banks accounts is a very complicated and difficult task. Only specialized bodies can handle it, like central banks. “All banks worldwide are controlled by central banks,” he said.