The Saudi Central Bank, established in 1952 and known until 2020 as the Saudi Arabian Monetary Authority (SAMA; ),[2] is the central bank of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Despite the 2020 name change, the Saudi Central Bank has continued to use the same acronym SAMA.[3]
History
Prior to the establishment of the Saudi Central Bank, the Saudi Hollandi Bank, a branch of the Netherlands Trading Society from 1926 acted as a de facto central bank. It kept the Kingdom's gold reserves and received oil revenues on behalf of the Saudi Arabian government.[4] In 1928 it assisted in the establishment of a new Saudi silver coin, commissioned by King Abdulaziz which became the Kingdom's first independent currency. The Saudi Hollandia Bank handed over its responsibilities to the SAMA when it was established in 1952[5] and became a model for other foreign banks in the kingdom.[6]