Saudi Arabia Launches Invoice-To-Pay Portal

Saudi Arabia is introducing an eInvoicing and electronic payments platform designed to digitize government and business payments to suppliers.

Reports in the Saudi Gazette on Sunday (June 30) said Saudi Arabia Monetary Authority (SAMA) Governor Dr. Ahmed Abdulkarim Alkolefi announced the government’s launch of the platform, dubbed Esal. The solution, developed by SAMA subsidiary Saudi Payments, enables vendors to issue invoices electronically to government and corporate clients, and receive electronic payments to reduce administrative burdens and costs on both sides.

The publication said the platform enhances the visibility of data connected to an invoice, providing documentation related to the bill to accelerate invoice B2B payment and financial management. Esal will also provide users with data and business intelligence solutions, payment clarification and payment status visibility, offering a control panel to facilitate the reconciliation process, and promote communication between buyer and supplier.

“The payments sector has seen a growing shift toward the adoption of electronic payments in the Kingdom as a major payment option,” said Saudi Payments Managing Director Ziad Al-Yousef in a statement. ‘“While both the corporate and consumers have benefited from access to a wide range of payment options provided by Saudi Payments systems, … we are very much keen on providing differentiated solutions to the corporate sectors that will help automate their invoices, and collect their payments electronically in an efficient and transparent [method].”

He added that the solution will promote economic growth to mitigate problems, and slow payments between buyers and suppliers.

“Users of the platform will notice immediate improvements in several areas, such as customer experience, financial management and [payment] collection,” he said.

According to reports, the Esal platform is part of SAMA’s Financial Sector Development Program initiatives aimed to promote economic growth in Saudi Arabia through financial services digitization.