The Kingdom has tightened its anti-money laundering rules, setting stricter controls on cross-border capital flows and precious metal movement and expanding the powers of financial investigators in its updated regulations, Okaz reports.
What changed?
The most immediate change for travelers: The declaration threshold for gold, precious metals, gemstones, and jewelry at customs ports has been lowered to SAR 40k from SAR 60k. Anything above that needs to be declared in writing at the port, with a purchase invoice to back it up. Get caught without declaring — customs can seize the items for up to 72 hours, and fines run between 10% and 25% of the value for a first offense, jumping to 50% for repeat violations. Suspected money laundering cases go straight to the Public Prosecution.
The regulations also shift the compliance framework from standardized controls to a risk-based assessment model. Financial institutions and designated non-financial businesses now have to regularly assess their exposure to money laundering risk across customers, products, geographies, and transaction types — and keep those assessments updated whenever something material changes.
Due diligence requirements have been tightened too. When onboarding a new client, institutions must now confirm who the person is, identify anyone who owns or controls 25% or more of a business behind them, and understand where the money is coming from — then keep monitoring the account on an ongoing basis. For politicians, senior government officials, judges, and military figures — and anyone close to them — a senior executive at the institution has to personally approve the relationship before it can begin.
On financial transfers, every wire must now carry complete originator and beneficiary information. Transfers where that data is missing can’t be processed — closing a common method used to obscure the origin of funds. The General Directorate of Financial Investigations also gets stronger enforcement tools. It can now freeze suspicious transactions for up to seven working days to buy time to investigate, and apply to courts to seize assets tied to suspected money laundering before anyone has a chance to move them.
