Overview

SmartSavings Investments & Real Estate Funds Distributor (the Company) is a Limited Liability Company registered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The Company, being an investment products distributor, is regulated by the Saudi Capital Market Authority (CMA). The Company is fully committed to comply with the Saudi Consumer Protection Law as well as the CMA’s relevant regulations designed to deal with the expected level of fair treatment, honesty and ease of access to investment products and services, to ensure due protection of the Company’s clients.

This Policy is to be read in conjunction with the provisions of the Company’s articles of association, corporate policies, as well as the relevant laws and regulations.

Purpose

The purpose of this Policy is to present to all stakeholders with better understanding of the consumer protection regulations and principles in order to provide better service to our customers and to protect their rights.

• To lay down the detailed customer care principles within the Company.

• To ensure that customer complaints are handled in a professional and timely manner by the Company’s staff.

• To ensure customers are treated with respect and in a fair and equitable manner.

• To learn from trends of customer complaints to identify root causes, take remedial action and improve ourselves to minimize the number of complaints.

• To protect the Company’s reputation.

• To instill customer care culture and principles for all Company’s employees.

The Company treats its customers with respect, fairness and professionalism, through an efficient customer service support, which the Company offers its customers while using our products or services, to achieve their financial goals, helping them understand and select the right products and services and assisting them with financial decisions.

Scope & Applicability

This Policy is applicable to all Company’s directors, management and staff, and should be read and applied in conjunction with the Company’s bylaws and corporate policies. The requirements of this Policy, however, should not conflict with any relevant laws and regulations.

In case of any conflict, the applicable laws and regulations should be complied with. The Board of Directors, CEO and staff are jointly responsible for managing and operating the Company’s business with the highest standards of professionalism and integrity.

Definition

A customer complaint is a communication received by the Company through any means (oral/ written/ mail/ e-mail) which expresses dissatisfaction about any aspect of the Company’s products, services, employee behavior/ attitude, processes, systems, etc. Customer complaints are a part of business of any company. Our company not only believes that providing prompt and efficient service is essential but also recognizes the right of its customers to complain and indeed welcomes their complaints as a valuable form of feedback to improve our services and products.

Legal & Regulatory Framework

CMA has been a strong advocate of the protection of consumer interests in light of the Saudi Consumer Protection Law. Consequently, over this period, CMA has played an important role ensuring that consumers are dealt with fairly and honestly by the financial institutions under its supervision.

The regulatory environment for management of investment business is generally governed by the following laws and regulations:

• The Saudi Consumer Protection Law.

• CMA’s Market Conduct Regulations dated 21 January 2021.

• CMA’s Capital Market Institutions Regulations dated 22 August 2022.

• CMA’s Financial Technology Permit Instructions dated 4 August 2921.

• CMA regulations are issued in both Arabic and English. In the event of discrepancy in the interpretation of the two texts, the Arabic text prevails.

• Under the laws, CMA may impose penalties for non-compliance with the regulations.

The Company’s Board of Directors has established a Customer Care function to ensure maintenance of efficient customer service, including proper handling of customer complaints in line with regulatory regulations and the Company’s policy.

Review & Update

This Policy which has been approved by the Company’s Board of Directors who are responsible for the supervision, oversight and approval of this Policy. The decision of the Board will be final in the interpretation of or exception to any of the requirements in the Policy.

This Policy shall be reviewed and updated, at least on an annual basis, or whenever warranted, to ensure that any changes in the operating environment, laws and regulations, the Company’s functions and activities, or organizational structures. The CEO shall ensure that only the latest approved version of the Policy is made accessible to essential personnel across the Company via appropriate channels.

Description of Terms

CMA: Saudi Capital Market Authority

Advertising: Commercial messaging in any medium that directly or indirectly promotes investment products or financial services.

Advice: A personal recommendation from a qualified individual given after due consideration of a consumer’s personal circumstances and objectives.

Awareness: Understanding of the principles of consumer protection and basic financial terminology used in organizations and the ability to differentiate between various products and services.

Conflict of Interest: When the duty of the company to act in the best interests of any consumer in relation to a matter conflicts, or there is a significant risk that it may conflict, with the own interests of the FI, in relation to that or a related matter.

Consumer: A natural person who is acting outside of the scope of his business and who is enjoying the products and services offered by the company.

Culture: The set of beliefs, values, and norms that represents the unique character of the company and provides the context for action in it and by it.

Disclosure: Transparently providing all related information to consumers.

Consumer Complaint: An expression of dissatisfaction made by a consumer to the Company, relating to its products and services, or staff behavior.

Error: An outcome contrary to the documented policy or operational and control procedures, which has a financial effect on and/or which breaches the regulatory rights of one or more consumers.

Incentives: Financially rewarding employees for sale of investment products or services.

Inclusion: Financial inclusion involves the availability, usage and quality of financial services and products to all citizens and residents in the KSA.

Intermediary: An entity that acts as the middleman between two parties in an investment transaction.

Mandatory Information: Information required from consumers by regulations from CMA and by company’s policy.

Third-Party: An authorized agent acting on behalf of the Company.

OECD Principles: Organization for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD) Principles help policy makers evaluate and improve the legal, regulatory, and institutional framework for corporate governance, with a view to supporting economic efficiency, sustainable growth and financial stability.

Consumer Protection Approach

The Company is committed to promoting transparency, fairness and ease of access for consumers, including the resolution of complaints.

Below is the Company’s high-level investment consumer protection combined approach that describes how CMA is taking a leading role in promoting transparency, fairness and ease of access to financial products and services for consumers, especially in the resolution of consumer complaints.

• Rules: Providing direction to policy makers to make decisions.

• Regulations: Issuing directives by way of regulations which investment institutions must fully implement and comply with; taking a leading role in promoting transparency, fairness and ease of access for financial consumers, including the resolution of complaints.

• Principles: Providing guidance to policy makers to make decisions.

• Business Conduct: Issuing policy principles that financial institutions will be encouraged to achieve.

CMA sets out the conduct expected from financial institutions through various regulations, policies and issued instructions and by making sure of the commitment of the institutions to apply these requirements.

Consumer Protection Principles

The ‘Consumer Protection Principles’ is the guiding document that will enable the Company to deliver the required level of fair treatment, honesty and financial inclusiveness and meet CMA’s strategic objective for the Company’s consumer protection.

These high-level general principles on Financial Consumer Protection were developed by a special task force of the OECD. These high-level principles are now used worldwide by financial regulators to complement their existing financial regulations, especially those regulations relevant to the protection of consumers. The following is a brief summary for each principle.

• Equitable & Fair Treatment
  Financial Institutions should deal fairly and honestly with consumers at all stages of their relationship, so that it is an integral part of the culture of a Financial Institution. Care should also be made and special attention given to the needs of vulnerable persons and groups.

• Disclosure & Transparency
  Financial Institutions should provide up to date information about products and services to consumers. This information should be easily accessible, clear, simple to understand, accurate, not misleading and include any potential risks for the consumer. It should include the rights and responsibilities of each party, including the mechanism for either party to end the Financial Institution relationship, as well as details of fees, pricing and any potential penalties that the consumer may incur.

• Financial Education & Awareness
  Financial Institutions should develop programs and appropriate mechanisms to help existing and future consumers develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to appropriately understand risks, including financial risks and opportunities, make informed choices, know where to go for assistance when they need it.

• Behavior & Work Ethic
  Financial Institutions should work in a professional manner for the benefit of clients during their relationship, where a Financial Institution is primarily responsible for the protection of the financial interests of the client.

• Protection Against Fraud
  Financial Institutions should protect and monitor consumer deposits and savings and other similar financial assets through the development of control systems with a high level of efficiency and effectiveness to reduce fraud, embezzlement or misuse.

• Protection of Privacy
  Consumers’ financial and personal information should be protected through appropriate control and protection mechanisms. These mechanisms should define the purposes for which the data may be collected, processed, held, used and disclosed (especially to third parties).

• Complaints Handling
  Consumers should have access to adequate complaints handling mechanisms that are accessible, affordable, independent, fair, accountable, timely and efficient and based on CMA rules.

• Competition
  Consumers should be able to search, compare and where appropriate, switch between products, services and providers easily and clearly at a reasonable cost.

• Third Parties
  Financial Institutions and their authorized agents should have as an objective, to work in the best interest of their consumers and be responsible for upholding financial consumer protection. Financial Institutions should also be responsible and accountable for the actions of their authorized agents.

• Conflict of Interest Financial Institutions should have a written policy on conflict of interest, and ensure that this policy will help to detect potential conflicts of interest. When the possibility of a conflict of interest arises between the Financial Institution and the third party, this should be disclosed to the consumer.

Consumer Responsibilities

The responsibilities of consumers will be supported by on-going consumer education and awareness programs from CMA as well as initiatives by the various FIs for their own consumers.

Consumer responsibilities include the following:

• Be honest with the information you provide
  Always give full and accurate information when you are filling in any FI documents. Do not give false details or leave out important information.

• Carefully read all information provided by your financial institution (FI)
  When you submit your application, you should receive full details on the obligations for your service or product. Make sure you have access to the details of your obligations, that you understand them and that you can comply with them.

• Ask questions
  It is important to ask questions to FI employees about anything that is unclear or a condition that you are unsure about. The staff will answer any questions in a professional manner to help you in your decision making.

• Know how to make a complaint
  You can be proactive in using this service and knowing how to escalate your issue to higher levels, if appropriate. Your FI will provide you with details on how to complain and the timeframe for their response.

• Use the product or service in line with the terms & conditions.
  Do not use the product or service, except in accordance with the terms and conditions associated with them, and after making sure of your complete understanding.

• Avoid risk
  Do not purchase a product or service where you feel that the risks do not suit your financial situation. Some financial products or services carry risks and your FI should clearly explain these to you.

• Apply for products and/or services that meet your needs
  When making a request for a product or service, you should make sure that it suits your needs. You should disclose all financial obligations with all parties to ensure the decision is based on your ability to meet your additional obligations after contracting for the product or service.

• Report unauthorized transactions to your FI
  If you have discovered unauthorized transactions on your account, you should report this to your FI immediately.

• Do not disclose your FI information
  Under no circumstances should you provide any FI account details or other sensitive personal or financial information to any other party.

• Talk to your FI if you are encountering financial difficulties
  By talking to your FI, you can discuss possible alternative repayment arrangements that will enable you to fully discharge your responsibilities.

• Updating information
  You should update your personal information, including contact information, so that it is updated continuously and also when so requested by the FI. You are responsible for failing to provide all relevant information to the FI.

• Use your mail address
  Use your own mail address (regular mail and email) when giving contact details to your FI. Do not use other friend’s or relative’s mail addresses which can expose your financial information to others.

• Power of Attorney
  Be careful when dealing with ‘Power of Attorney’. Know what information that you are giving access to and to whom you are giving power over your financial matters.

• Do not sign uncompleted forms
  Make sure all of the required fields and numbers are completed in a form that is presented to you for signing or initialing. Do not sign empty or partially completed forms.

• Review all of your documents
  Review all of your documents before you sign them to ensure no errors are made in the account number or amount. Your signature is an approval and agreement of the document content.

• Keep copies of your documents
  Keep all documents in a safe place that are provided to you by the FI. They should provide you with a copy of signed contracts and other relevant documents and papers.

Terms & Conditions

• Up to date terms and conditions for products and services should be provided to new consumers or at the request of existing consumers, through the channels available from the FI and in accordance with the consumer’s preference, and detailed either by way of a general terms and conditions booklet or by individual brochures. Consumers should be encouraged to read these terms and conditions before committing to a product or service.

• FI should communicate any changes in terms and conditions at least 30 business days in advance of any such changes being implemented.

• All terms and conditions should be written in clear and understandable language, in a manner that is not misleading and provided to the consumer in Arabic, with a translation available in English if requested.

• FI should include specific warning statements in all terms and conditions, application forms and advertisements, stating clearly the potential consequences for the consumer in not meeting the product or service conditions as agreed in the application form.

Fees, Charges & Pricing

• FI strictly passes the terms and conditions related to the products from the provider to the consumer and FI does not modify fees nor charge any additional fees in regards to that.

• FI will make it clear to consumers that the terms and conditions of the product provider needs to be reviewed and agreed on before any transaction, which includes a fee breakdown as per provider terms and conditions.

• FI will only deduct the approved fees, charges and commissions that are detailed in the CMA schedule of fees and charges and commissions. All new fees, charges and commissions should be approved by CMA. The fully approved CMA schedule of fees and charges, including third party fees, charges and commissions, should be clearly on display on the FI platform dashboard.

• FI should provide, through the platform, consumers with an electronic copy of the schedule of fees, charges and commissions when subscribing to a service or as requested by a consumer at any time.

Data Protection & Confidentiality

• FI has responsibility to protect consumer data and maintain the confidentiality of the data, including when it is held by a third party

• FI will provide a safe and confidential environment in all of its delivery channels to ensure the confidentiality and privacy of consumer data.

• FI has a general duty of confidentiality towards a consumer except:
  - When the disclosure is imposed by the relevant authority (such as the Ministry of Interior, Courts etc.).
  - When disclosure is made with the written consent of the consumer.

• FI should have sufficient procedures, system controls and checks and employee awareness to protect consumer information and to identify and resolve any causes of information security breaches, where they may occur in the future.

• FI should ensure that the personal information of consumers can be accessed and used by authorized employees only. This is to ensure that access to consumer’s financial and/or personal information is for authorized employees only, whether on the job or after they have ceased working with the FI.

Advertising & Marketing Communications

• FI does not in any way shape of form promote directly or indirectly one of the listed products on its platform over other products, remaining unbiased towards all products.

• FI can present the consumer new added products or recent product performances in a completely objective manner without being biased towards other products nor advising consumers.

• FI cannot do the following:
  - Provide an offer or false data or information or to be evasive about the terms that would lead directly or indirectly to deceive or mislead a consumer.
  - Use an advertisement or poster without the right to use a counterfeit mark or logo.

• FI should ensure that an advertisement or promotional material is designed and presented so that any consumer can reasonably be expected to know that it is an advertisement and availability of the product or service may require the consumer to meet certain criteria.

• FI should ensure that an advertisement or promotional material that offers introductory low-cost fees, charges or pricing, clearly states the expiry date of such an offer.

• FI should ensure that an advertisement or promotional material which contains any acronyms (for example APR) states clearly what the letters actually stand for.

• FI should ensure that an advertisement or promotional material only describes a product or service as ‘free’ where the product or service in its entirety is available free of charge to all consumers.

• Consumers have the right to receive messages, SMS or through electronic means, or promotional material for the platform provided by FI, and the FI should obtain the prior approval of the consumer, whether in writing or electronically, according to the preferences of the consumer.

Relationship Opening & Closing

• FI should accept and fulfill all requests to open new accounts, where the consumer has completed all of the required documents and meets the conditions required to complete the account opening process, with the exception of the cases provided for in the rules of opening and operating accounts issued by CMA.

• FI should not unreasonably delay the opening of a FI account for a consumer by engaging in delaying tactics.

• FI should inform consumers of decision by the FI to close a consumer’s account 60 days in advance of the account being closed and the reasons for this. In cases of fraud or embezzlement by a consumer, an FI can immediately close or block an account without communicating with the consumer.

• FI should not require a consumer to have a minimum deposit to open a personal FI account. However, a FI has the right to close an account if the account balance is zero for a period of 90 days from the date that the account is opened.

• FI should inform a consumer of the consequences of opening and operating a FI account. This should include a formal process of ensuring that consumers are fully aware of the consequences of granting access to their FI accounts to third parties.

Internet Services

• FI should take appropriate measures to ensure that all internet channels are safe and secure. A consumer will be compensated for any direct losses incurred as a result of poor security controls for these channels according to FI signed Terms and Conditions.

• FI should provide an accessible website chatting or email to help consumers to easily report suspicious or unusual transactions or unauthorized access to their data or accounts.

• FI should inform consumers of all transactions on their accounts as they happen, by sending notification through a free SMS to mobile phone, or electronic means such as email or in-app notifications. They should apply more than one evidence of identity verification for electronic services and advise consumers regarding electronic fraud in accordance with CMA circulars.

• FI should verify that all electronic services meet the needs of consumers and lead to facilitating the completion of transactions according to the latest technologies available.

General Terms

• The company strictly follows the terms and conditions of product providers.

• The company should provide an electronic copy of the ‘Consumer Protection Principles’ to new consumers, or to existing consumers who takes out a new product or service.

• FI will provide a copy of the following documents electronically based on the consumer request through the platform:
  - The company’s terms and conditions. - The terms and conditions of the provider of the product in which the consumer is interested in investing.

• FI will not discriminate against consumers in any way, in the sale or usage of any product or service.

Employees

• The Company will ensure that employees who have direct interactions with consumers should do the following:-
  - Competently, efficiently and professionally discharge their duties and provide the services they are entrusted to provide.
  - Display good behaviors and deal professionally when providing service to existing or prospect consumers at all times.
  - Have full knowledge of best practices so that they can help consumers.

• FI should ensure that its employees have access to training and achieve the required levels of competency by enrolment in specialized programs for professional accreditation that qualifies them to deal with consumers.

Errors Handling

• A FI is not entitled to benefit from any amounts due to an error, the sum should be returned to the affected consumer’s account without delay and without waiting for the consumer to register a claim.

• Where FI discovers an error, or is informed of an error by a consumer making a complaint or a claim, then the FI should refund all other consumers who are proven to be affected by a similar error. This should be completed within 60 business days of the original error being identified. The FI should issue a communication to all affected consumers, advising them of the error and the steps being taken for corrective action, including the amount of the refund to the consumer’s accounts.

• FI should ensure the continuity of systems to meet the consumer’s needs at all times, and to provide alternatives when a defect or malfunction occurs.

• On conclusion of a complaint or error investigation, or on receipt of an instruction from a higher authority, any refunds or monetary compensation due to a consumer should be credited to the consumer’s money transmission account within five business days. In certain exceptional circumstances when a longer period of time may be required, the consumer should be advised of the expected time for crediting of the amount due.

Complaints Handling

• FI should comply with the rules and regulations for complaint handling as issued by CMA and should acknowledge receipt of the consumer’s complaint and send them a complaint reference number to their mobile telephone or through an electronic means such as email or in-app message for follow up.

• FI should clearly display their complaints procedures in all of their branches and on their websites and provide a hard copy to a consumer if requested.

• FI’s complaints procedures should include the following:
  - How to make a complaint and the documentation required, including the consumer’s right to make a complaint directly through the FI’s website or using any other channel made available by the FI.
  - That FI management take responsibility for the investigating of complaints.
  - The official name and phone number to be used by the consumer when they need to follow up a complaint.
  - That the expected time period for the FI to respond to the consumer with a decision on the complaint that would not exceed 10 business days from the date of registration of the complaint.
  - The FI should communicate with the consumer regarding the complaint within one week from the date of receipt in the absence of resolution during this period.
  - If the complaint is not resolved in one week, the FI will communicate and update within 10 business days to advise how long (It is expected that resolution will take.
  - FI should document the channel used to communicate with the consumer and retain details.

• FI should provide the information required by a consumer who wishes to escalate their complaint within a FI or to a third party as a result of being dissatisfied with the result of their complaint and direct them to the appropriate third party relevant for their complaint.