What Saudi Arabia Anti-Money Laundering Law - Royal Decree M/20 dated 05/02/1439H (2017) and Implementing Regulations requires
The Anti-Money Laundering Law of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was issued by Royal Decree No. M/20 dated 05/02/1439H (corresponding to 25 October 2017 of the Gregorian calendar), repealing and replacing the prior Royal Decree M/31 of 1424H (2003). The Law operates with its Implementing Regulations issued by the Decision of the Presidency of State Security No. 14525 dated 19/02/1439H. The Law criminalises money laundering broadly, covering the conversion, transfer, acquisition, possession, use or management of funds or proceeds known or suspected to be derived from a predicate offence; the predicate is any criminal offence including tax-evasion conduct, narcotics, corruption, terrorism financing, fraud, smuggling, human trafficking and cybercrime. Penalties include imprisonment up to ten years and fines up to SAR 5 million per offence for natural persons, with aggravated penalties of imprisonment up to fifteen years where the offence is committed through a criminal organisation or involves a public official; for legal persons, fines up to SAR 50 million and dissolution where appropriate. Reporting obligations apply to financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses and professions (DNFBPs) including banks, exchange houses, finance companies, insurance and reinsurance entities, securities firms, lawyers, accountants, real estate agents, dealers in precious metals and stones, trust and company service providers, and from the 2022 SAMA cryptoassets framework virtual asset service providers. Reporting is to the General Department of Financial Investigations (GDFI) at the Presidency of State Security, the Saudi FIU, within the applicable window (typically as soon as practicable after suspicion is formed). The Saudi Central Bank (SAMA, the successor to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority) supervises banks, exchange houses, finance companies, insurance entities and payment institutions; the Capital Market Authority (CMA) supervises securities firms; the Ministry of Commerce supervises DNFBPs through sectoral licensing authorities. Saudi Arabia is a FATF member since 2019 and a member of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force (MENAFATF) since 2004; the country was the subject of a FATF Mutual Evaluation Report published in September 2018 with subsequent follow-up assessments. The Vision 2030 reform program has prioritised AML/CFT modernisation including the 2017 Law, the 2022 cryptoassets framework, and the modernisation of the General Authority of Zakat and Tax (now ZATCA) for tax-related predicate offences. The Law operates alongside the Counter-Terrorism Financing Law issued by Royal Decree M/16 of 24/02/1435H (2014), and the Counter-Terrorism Law issued by Royal Decree M/21 of 12/02/1438H (2017).
Pillar: Financial Crime, AML & Sanctions · Authority: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; Anti-Money Laundering Law issued by Royal Decree No. M/20 dated 05/02/1439H (corresponding to 25 October 2017); Implementing Regulations issued by Decision of the Presidency of State Security No. 14525 dated 19/02/1439H; principal supervisors include the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA), the Capital Market Authority (CMA), the Ministry of Commerce; the FIU is the General Department of Financial Investigations (GDFI) · Version: 1.0.0 · Last updated:
Primary source: https://rulebook.sama.gov.sa/en/anti-money-laundering-law
SHA-256 integrity: 0800494e58fcbc94aa3d24157e9cccbcb0938b3451314b76182ca5955b8c2c5f
Primary Citations — 8 traced to source
- Anti-Money Laundering Law of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia issued by Royal Decree No. M/20 dated 05/02/1439H (corresponding to 25 October 2017 Gregorian), repealing and replacing the prior Royal Decree M/31 of 1424H (2003), codifying the money-laundering offence (Art. 2), aggravated forms (Art. 3), obliged persons (Art. 5), customer due diligence (Arts. 7-9), suspicious transaction reporting to GDFI (Arts. 15-16), tipping-off prohibition (Art. 17), safe-harbour (Art. 18) and penalties (Arts. 26-28)
- Implementing Regulations of the Anti-Money Laundering Law issued by Decision of the Presidency of State Security No. 14525 dated 19/02/1439H, providing operational detail on customer identification, beneficial ownership identification, suspicious transaction reporting procedures, internal controls, training, sanctions and record-keeping
+ 6 more citations (full bibliography, deterministic workflow, actionable schema and crosswalks) included in the vault unlock — $0.01 via Skyfire / L402 / Direct Base USDC.
Access
- Discovery (free): /api/v1/nodes/sa-aml-royal-decree-m-20-2017-anti-money-laundering-law.json — 6-field metadata
- Vault (full node): /api/v1/vault/nodes/sa-aml-royal-decree-m-20-2017-anti-money-laundering-law.json — full 13-key payload, $0.01 USDC (L402/Skyfire/Direct Base)
- Canonical URL: https://bidda.com/intelligence/sa-aml-royal-decree-m-20-2017-anti-money-laundering-law
- Back to registry: Browse all 10,085 compliance nodes