JEDDAH, 26 November 2002 —THE Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) has chosen Logica to provide a new payments network solution to enable electronic funds transfers in the Kingdom. The new initiative, which is a multimillion-dollar commitment, will be supplied, implemented and supported by Logica in partnership with Oasis Technology. As part of the project, Logica will offer consultancy services in electronic bill payment and presentment (EBPP), e-commerce, m-commerce and Smart Card strategy. Logica is a global solutions company furnishing management and IT consultancy, systems integration, products, services and support. The company has revenues of over one billion pounds and operates in 34 countries worldwide. Founded in 1969, Logica is the largest IT services company listed on the London Stock Exchange. 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 will handle up to 1,000 banking transactions per second and support thousands of ATM and point-of-sale terminals throughout the Kingdom. The new SAMA payment network will be implemented in four phases over the next 12-18 months. “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.” Derek Kemp, CEO for Logica in the Middle East, said: “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.”
