title: Saudi Payments Network
text: The Saudi Payments Network () or mada (, formerly SPAN) is the only and major payment system in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia established by Ministry of Finance under the supervision of Saudi Central Bank. It connects all ATM and Point of Sale (PoS) terminals throughout the country to a central payment switch which in turn re-routes the financial transactions to the card issuer (local bank, Visa, American Express or MasterCard). All banks in Saudi Arabia are required by the Saudi Central Bank (SAMA) to issue ATM cards fully compatible with the network. All services are provided to the customer free of charge, regardless of the ATM used, its operator, or the customer's card issuer.
  
  Mada provides its services through over than 17,000 ATM machines and over 225,000 POS terminals in the Kingdom. In cooperation with global payment systems such as Visa, MasterCard, and Maestro, mada allows access to millions of ATMs and POS terminals worldwide. 
  
  The network has recently been upgraded to SPAN2 which is compliant with EMV standards and implements a higher capacity infrastructure and therefore less processing time, especially at POS terminals, resolving a major problem of the first generation SPAN system.
  
  Member banks in the network 
  
   Al-Rajhi Bank
   Al Bilad Bank
   Arab National Bank
   Bank AlJazira
   Emirates International Bank
   National Commercial Bank
   Riyad Bank
   SABB
   AlAwal Bank
   Banque Saudi Fransi
   Saudi Investment Bank
   Samba Financial Group
   National Bank of Kuwait
   Bank Muscat
   National Bank of Bahrain
   Alinma Bank
   Gulf International Bank
  
  See also
  Smart card
  Visa Inc.
  American Express
  MasterCard
  
  References
  
  External links
   SPAN home page
  
  Banks of Saudi Arabia
  Interbank networks
  Payment networks