Saudi Arabia enhances banking services for Hajj pilgrims

The Saudi Central Bank has introduced a range of services to meet the needs of pilgrims, making transactions easier.

Pilgrims can use their internationally issued bank cards to make payments and withdraw cash while in the Kingdom.

According to an Ekhbariya report, the Saudi Central Bank will operate about 110 bank branches, including temporary and mobile branches, in the holy regions, with 36 branches operating throughout the Kingdom during Eid Al-Adha holidays.

The bank has also made available 1,220 ATMs and point-of-sale terminals, including 633 in Makkah, 19 mobile devices at the holy sites, and 568 in Madinah.

Pilgrims can use their locally issued ATM cards to make payments or withdraw cash in the Kingdom through the national payment system Mada, which supports payment and cash withdrawal transactions through international payment networks such as Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, Discover, American Express and the Gulf Payment Co. Afaq network.

In addition to these services, the central bank has distributed more than SR5 billion ($1.33 billion) in various denominations of banknotes and coins to its branches in Jeddah, Makkah and Madinah. The bank is closely monitoring daily cash flow in the Kingdom. 

SOURCE: ARABNEWS