JEDDAH, 18 January 2006 — According to the latest SAMA statistics, the total amount of cash withdrawn from ATMs (automated teller machines) in Saudi Arabia was SR18.6 billion in November 2005.
This is a decrease of 29.9 percent from October which witnessed the greatest amount of cash withdrawals during the year. Of the SR18.6 billion withdrawn in November, SR8.4 billion was withdrawn from the Saudi ATM network (SPAN) while the remainder (SR10.2 billion) was withdrawn from ATMs located at banks.
In October, the total cash withdrawals were SR26.6 billion with SR11.59 taken from ATMs and SR15.04 billion directly from banks. The high demand for cash in October is believed to be part of the Ramadan shopping rage fuelled by the 15 percent increase in public sector salaries.
The number of ATM transactions in November was 40.18 million compared to 52.37 million in October. According to SAMA, Saudi banks issued 90,349 new ATM cards in November so that the total number of ATM cards from Saudi banks at the end of November was 7,845,684.
The number of ATMs also increased in November by 42 to reach 4,515 machines. The National Commercial Bank (NCB), the bank with the largest number of ATMs — 915 — did not add any new machines in November. Samba Financial Group and Riyad Bank both added 9 machines to their existing networks in November. Banque Saudi Fransi and the Saudi British Bank (SABB) also each added 2 ATMs in November. Saudi Hollandi Bank and Bank Al-Jazira are both still operating with the same number of ATMs.
Saudi Investment Bank added one ATM while Al-Bilad Bank decreased the number of its ATMs by one. Al-Bilad bank which started operations in 2005 enlarged its ATM network from 4 in May 2005 to 20 by the end of November. The largest addition of ATMs in November was 12 made by Al-Rajhi Banking & Investment Corporation.