Article 13 of the Saudi Anti-Money Laundering Law

After the body has identified its customer through due diligence, this article requires continuous follow-up of the customer's dealings. It addresses financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions, which have four obligations:

1. Continuous monitoring: Monitoring and examining transactions, documents and data continuously, to make sure they are consistent with the information the body holds about the customer, the customer's business activities and the risks the customer represents, and about the sources of the customer's funds where needed.
2. Scrutinizing unusual transactions: Scrutinizing all complex and unusually large transactions, as well as any unusual pattern of transactions that has no clear economic or lawful purpose.
3. Tightening when risk is high: Tightening due diligence procedures and the degree and nature of monitoring of the business relationship when money laundering risks are high, to determine whether the transaction appears unusual or suspicious.
4. Keeping examination records: Keeping the records of this examination for 10 years, and making them available to the competent authorities on request.

This article complements Article 12 on keeping transaction records and due diligence documents. Article 14 requires establishing internal policies, procedures and controls to manage the risks identified under Article 5, and applying them to branches and subsidiaries in which the body holds a majority stake.

In practice, a bank asking a customer about the reason for a large or unusual transaction is applying this article, and it does not in itself mean an accusation. Anyone who faces a banking measure because of this can consult a lawyer who specializes in banking and finance.