Riyadh - Mubasher: Saudi Payments has launched Saudi Arabia’s instant payments system 'sarie' in cooperation with IBM and Mastercard to foster payment innovation in the region and enhance the Kingdom’s financial ecosystem.

The system of ‘sarie’ supports all Saudi banks and is available for their customers to send and receive money in real-time through a wide range of services and transfer options, according to a press release on Wednesday.

Through the new system, customers at local banks are able to execute instant transactions of up to SAR 20,000 ($5,300).

Meanwhile, 'sarie' users are enabled to send up to SAR 2,500 ($660) using aliases, such as mobile number, email address, ID number, or IBAN number.

The new instant payment system comes in line with the Kingdom’s Financial Sector Development Program (FSDP) under Saudi Vision 2030, which aims to achieve 70% non-cash transactions by 2030.

Saudi Payments selected IBM Global Business Services (GBS) to lead the project as the System Integrator (SI) partner and an end-to-end digital payments solutions provider, while Mastercard’s innovative and secured real-time payment technology was chosen for the rollout.

Saudi Payments Managing Director, Fahad Al-Akeel, said: "It [the instant payments system 'sarie'] can help lay the foundation for new payments business initiatives, encouraging financial inclusion and banking reconciliation of Saudi banks."

The Vice President and Country Business Development Lead in Saudi Arabia for Mastercard, Maria Medvedeva, commented: "Saudi Arabia is an important market for Mastercard, and we anticipate that with this real-time payment system going live in the MEA region, many doors may soon open for ongoing innovation, both in the Kingdom and further afield."