Saudi Payments Network

The Saudi Payments Network (SPAN) is the only and major payment system in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It connects all ATM and point of sale (POS) terminals throughout the country to a central payment switch which in turn re-routes the financial transactions to the card issuer, (local bank, VISA, American Express or MasterCard). All Banks in Saudi Arabia are required by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) to issue ATM cards fully compatible with the network. All services are provided to the customer free of charge, regardless of the ATM used, its operator, or the customer's card issuer.

There are now more than 6,000 ATMs and 55,000 POSs connected to the network and in 2006 more than 340 million transactions went through SPAN, with a total value of 160 billion SR (42.5 billion USD).

The network has recently been upgraded to SPAN2 which is compliant with EMV standards and implements a higher capacity infrastructure and therefore less processing time, especially at POS terminals, resolving a major problem of the first generation SPAN system.