Article 15 of the Saudi Payments and Payment Services Law

This article specifies who oversees and inspects the application of the Law, and their powers:

• Appointment: oversight and inspection are carried out by inspectors appointed by decision of the Governor of the Central Bank.
• Tasks: oversight and inspection, and detecting violations of the Law and the regulations.
• Powers: reviewing records, receiving complaints, questioning staff of persons subject to the Law, and obtaining the information they request.
• Law-enforcement capacity: the inspectors have judicial-police capacity in doing so.

In return, the second paragraph places two obligations:

1. Prohibition on obstruction: the inspectors may not be prevented from performing their duties provided for in the article.
2. Duty to cooperate: persons subject to inspection must cooperate with them and provide them with facilities.

In practice, payment companies and operators of payment systems must be ready to give the inspectors access to their records and staff. Receiving complaints is also among the inspectors' powers under the text. The article does not set the inspection procedures or timing.

Article 16 follows, allowing the Central Bank to disclose information about persons subject to the Law to a third party if that is necessary to implement the Law. Anyone facing inspection procedures or the detection of a violation would do well to consult a lawyer specializing in banking and finance and payment systems.