Saudi Post to start remittance service by June 

(MENAFN - Arab News) Saudi Post will launch a new service allowing customers to transfer money through the post office's 65 branches in the Kingdom. The new service for international transactions will start in June 2013, while the local transactions service will be launched in June 2014.

Mohammad Benten, chairman and president of Saudi Post, said this project would be a part of Saudi Post Holding. "Statistics showed that expats in Saudi Arabia transferred about 27 billion (SR 101 billion) in 2010. There are about 8.4 million expats in Saudi Arabia, making up 31.1 percent of the total population," said Benten.

He added: "Our new service would mean a great leap in the Saudi Post services, especially for expats. Expats now spend a lot of time waiting in line at banks. Banks also close during weekends and Eid holidays.

Saudi Post's new service would allow users to have full access to money transfer services at any time."

Families of scholarship students could transfer money easily through Saudi Post. Ahmad Al-Youssef, deputy minister in the Ministry of Higher Education, said there are about 143,000 students studying in 26 countries worldwide.
Benten said several local financial partners are working together to prepare the appropriate infrastructure for this project.

"Last month, the Saudi Council of Ministers agreed to have the Kingdom join the Postal Payment Services Agreement that was drawn up in Geneva in 2008. This brings the Kingdom's postal system in line with those of 75 countries worldwide," he said.

According to the Universal Postal Union, there are about one billion users of financial postal services in the world. There are 51 investors who own 1.6 billion savings and deposit accounts worldwide.