Saudi Monetary Agency selects Logica to implement payments network 18 November 2002 Solution Will Offer New Electronic Banking Services & Reduced Cash Transactions Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Logica today announced that the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) has selected it to provide a new payments network solution to enable electronic funds transfers in the Kingdom. The new initiative, which is a multi-million dollar commitment and will be at the heart of SAMA’s business, will be supplied, implemented, and supported by Logica in partnership with Oasis Technology. As part of the project, Logica will provide consultancy services in electronic bill payment and presentment (EBPP), e-Commerce, m-Commerce, and Smart Card strategy. SAMA’s enhanced payment network is designed to support the widespread deployment of electronic banking services across Saudi Arabia, while creating secure and reliable infrastructure for the anticipated growth in card transaction volumes. The new network is forecasted to handle up to 1000 banking transactions per second, and support thousands of ATM and point-of-sale terminals throughout the Kingdom. “As the Saudi economy becomes less cash-based and card usage increases, the need for a leading-edge, integrated network becomes more acute, and SAMA is addressing that requirement through our partnership with Logica. Our intention with this initiative is to enable a new range of card-based financial services and enhanced service levels to consumers, while providing member banks with greater operational and cost efficiencies,” commented a spokesman for SAMA. “Part of SAMA’s strategy in deploying a new payments network is also to support new types of transactions, such as via mobile phones and the Internet, in a secure and high-performance environment. Overall, we plan to give member banks increased options in the range of services they offer, while boosting consumer confidence in card usage,” added SAMA’s spokesman. The new SAMA payment network will be implemented over four phases within the next 12-18 months, and Logica is set to provide all implementation work, as well as project management, consultancy, support, training, and maintenance of the new system. “The new SAMA initiative was awarded to Logica following a comprehensive and highly-detailed evaluation, and when completed, will be the most advanced payments control system in the entire Middle East region. The initiative also complements Logica’s existing relationship with SAMA, a long-time client for which Logica earlier created a bespoke clearing and settlement solution,” noted Derek Kemp, CEO for Logica in the Middle East. “Our commitment and leadership in Saudi Arabia in particular, and the Middle East market in general, were among the reasons for Logica’s selection for this initiative. We also have a proven track record with SAMA for delivering innovative, mission-critical solutions on time and within budget, and Logica is delighted to be the solutions provider behind SAMA’s new payments network,” concluded Kemp.