Article 11 of the Saudi Anti-Money Laundering Law

This article deals with geographic risk, meaning the risk arising from dealing with persons who come from countries described as high-risk for money laundering. It addresses financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions.

Paragraph 1: These bodies must apply enhanced due diligence measures, proportionate to the risks that may arise from business relationships and transactions with a person from a high-risk country. A country is described as high-risk in one of two ways:

• The body itself identifies it based on its own assessment.
• Or the Standing Committee for Anti-Money Laundering identifies it.

Paragraph 2: These bodies must also apply the measures specified by the Standing Committee in relation to high-risk countries. The article does not state the content of these measures, which are issued by the Committee.

This provision is linked to Article 5, which makes other countries and geographic areas among the risk aspects to be assessed, and to Article 7, which requires tightening due diligence when risk is high. The important phrase here is that the tightening is proportionate to the risks.

The article does not mean a ban on dealing with these countries in itself, but tighter diligence. Anyone who needs an assessment of their business's dealings with particular countries can consult a lawyer who specializes in banking and finance or international investment.