Innovation in financial services is increasingly driven by the convergence of payments and compliance. Financial institutions are moving away from fragmented systems toward integrated operating models that combine connectivity, monitoring, screening, analytics, and fraud controls—enabling real-time decision-making while reducing operational complexity.
Source: This article is based on insights shared during an interview managed by EMEA Finance with Samer Fawadleh, Regional Director Levant & Africa at Eastnets. The full conversation is available here.
An integrated payments and compliance approach brings multiple capabilities together under one operating model. Instead of relying on disconnected tools, financial institutions benefit from:
Fewer handoffs between systems
Reduced operational risk and data gaps
Real-time visibility across payment processing and financial crime controls. This unified model aligns closely with modern payment hub architectures, where compliance controls are embedded directly into payment flows rather than layered on top.
Safe Trade is a trade-based financial crime solution designed to address the growing risks associated with trade finance. Launched 2–3 years ago, it enables continuous monitoring and screening of trade transactions in real time.
Key capabilities include:
Trade finance document digitisation
Vessel tracking
Continuous sanctions screening of MT 700 messages
Continuous sanctions screening of Letters of Credit (LCs)
Monitoring of trade documents such as bills of lading
All insights are presented in a single, unified screen, allowing compliance and operations teams to monitor each letter of credit end to end—without switching between multiple systems.
👉 Learn more about trade-based financial crime controls
Since the first Swift Service Bureau implementation in Dubai in 2003, the model has expanded globally. Today, service bureaus operate across multiple regions, including the Middle East, Europe, and the United States.
This global footprint supports more than 350 financial institutions, delivering secure, compliant, and resilient access to the Swift network. Check our Swift connectivity and Service Bureau services.
Saudi Arabia’s data residency and regulatory requirements make local infrastructure essential. A local Swift Service Bureau enables institutions to keep sensitive data within the Kingdom while benefiting from long-standing expertise in operating regulated financial infrastructure.
The Saudi Service Bureau went live in just three months, including:
Full Swift certification
No-objection certificates from SAMA
Regulatory approvals from insurance and capital markets authorities
Compliance with National Cybersecurity Authority requirements
This model supports local compliance while maintaining global operational standards.
A Swift Service Bureau is no longer limited to messaging connectivity. In Saudi Arabia, the local model extends to orchestrated, value-added services, including:
Analytics and reporting engines within a payment hub environment
Anti-financial crime solutions covering screening and monitoring
Additional services layered on top of payments infrastructure
This approach allows institutions to focus on their core business while infrastructure, upgrades, and regulatory changes are managed centrally—with 24/7 support and 99.9% availability. Explore our compliance and financial crime solutions.
Takeed is a newly announced service positioned as the next major step after ISO 20022 migration: confirmation of payee for cross-border transactions.
Before a payment is processed, Takeed verifies:
Account number accuracy
Whether the account is active and able to receive funds
Beneficiary name correctness, including corrections for minor misspellings
This capability directly addresses rising fraud and payment failure rates in cross-border transactions.
Confirmation of payee delivers tangible value across operations, risk management, and customer experience:
Significantly reduces rejected and reversed payments
Improves customer experience by validating beneficiary details in real time
Protects banks from fraud, including beneficiary manipulation and IBAN-related scams
Saudi Arabia is the first country in the Middle East to introduce confirmation of payee for cross-border payments, with strong early adoption interest from banks.
Payments and compliance continue to evolve in global waves that eventually become local regulatory and operational requirements. Institutions that stay ahead focus on integrated, future-ready platforms—from real-time compliance and trade finance controls to confirmation of payee and frictionless payments.
By combining secure connectivity, embedded compliance, and scalable infrastructure, financial institutions can prepare for the next phase of payments innovation in Saudi Arabia and beyond.