JEDDAH, 23 June 2006 — Hassan Ali Al-Abdali, a healthcare worker from the town of Qunfuda, learned that banks in Saudi Arabia sometimes do things to customers’ accounts without informing them, the daily Al-Madinah reported yesterday. About six months ago, Al-Abdali found that SR3,000 had mysteriously appeared in his bank account. A month later another SR3,000 appeared. Knowing that a fellow colleague shared the same name as his, he learned that the bank had mistakenly deposited his co-workers salary into his account twice. Thinking it was a fluke, Al-Abdali simply transferred his colleague’s funds into the right account. Then his own paycheck stopped appearing in his bank account on payday. It took the honest fellow six months to work out what had happened: Without informing him or his employer, the bank simply deleted one of the accounts because bank employees came to the conclusion that the two names indicated duplicity in its recorded rather than considering the possibility that two account holders might have the same name. Perhaps somebody at that bank needs to figure out why banks assign distinct account numbers!
