Pricing and transparencyالتسعير والشفافية

Pricing is how the company earns from the product: a visible fee, a percentage of each transaction, a margin on an exchange rate, or a return on money sitting still. Transparency is the customer knowing which of those they are paying before they pay it.

Follow one riyal from the customer's pocket to the company's account and the product's mechanics and incentives become visible.

Why not make it free and earn somewhere else?

This is the first suggestion in every pricing meeting. Free attracts users, and profit arrives later from somewhere else.

The problem is that "somewhere else" has a limited number of addresses in financial products, and somebody pays at every one of them.

You can earn from the merchant, as in instalments and cards. From the exchange rate spread, advertising "no commission" and adding a margin to the rate itself. From the float, meaning customer balances sitting idle with you. From late payers, meaning late fees and minimum charges. From customer data.

Every one of those is a legitimate choice, and every one of them determines who actually pays. Hence the rule: free means somebody else is paying, and it is usually whichever of your customers reads the terms least carefully.

That last sentence is what changed at the regulator. When your model depends on a share of customers falling behind and paying penalties, you are not selling a service. You are betting on your customers failing. That model is under a microscope in every regulated market today.

So the right question is not whether to make it free. It is who pays, and whether they know they are paying.

Find the margin

Financial products earn money in a limited number of places. A transfer provider may charge a fixed fee, a percentage, or an exchange-rate spread. An app may earn interest on customer balances, sell a subscription, or lend at interest.

The label on a fee is not enough. The largest revenue source directs company decisions. Transaction revenue encourages usage. Balance revenue encourages money to remain. Lending revenue creates a trade-off between volume and default.

Margin is what remains after direct cost. A merchant may pay 2.5 percent to accept a card, but the payment provider does not keep it all. Parts go to the issuer, card network, and other partners. Revenue is not profit.

Free has a funder

No financial service has zero economic cost. A cardholder may pay no fee while the merchant pays on purchase. A wallet may have no subscription while the company earns on stored balances. A transfer may be advertised as free while using a poor exchange rate.

Identify who pays and what behaviour the model rewards. If merchants fund rewards, their prices absorb the cost. If late fees from inattentive customers subsidise everyone else, revenue depends on failure. That conflict may be invisible on a polished page.

Free is not automatically deceptive. A company can subsidise acquisition and earn from a clearly optional service. It becomes misleading when customers cannot identify, avoid, or compare the cost.

Calculate total cost

An international transfer requires more than reading the headline fee. Sending SAR 1,000 with a SAR 5 fee and a rate 2 percent below the market costs about SAR 25. The spread is four times the visible fee.

Compare what leaves the sender with what the recipient receives. Compare providers at the same time because currencies move. Do not compare only a fixed fee, one percentage, or a price advertised as “from zero.”

For a loan, add interest, origination fees, mandatory insurance, and monthly charges. Compare that total with cash actually received. A standard annual percentage rate helps, but does not replace the payment schedule and penalty terms.

For a subscription, use a one-year horizon. Multiply the monthly fee by 12 and add usage fees that remain. A paid tier may save a weekly sender money and cost an occasional user more.

Separate price from collection timing

Cost also differs by when and where it appears. A provider may deduct a fee immediately, add it to instalments, or remove it from the recipient's amount. The final option can look free to the sender while charging the recipient.

Show a complete numerical example before confirmation. State that the customer pays SAR 1,005, the recipient receives value equivalent to SAR 980, and the rate lasts five minutes. One example prevents disputes that pages of terms do not.

Do not reveal an expected fee only after identity and account linking. By then the customer has invested time and may feel trapped. Core pricing belongs before an expensive onboarding journey.

Monitor the incentive the price creates

Commission can push sales staff toward unsuitable volume. Balance income can make withdrawals inconvenient. Late-fee income can encourage lending to vulnerable customers. These incentives do not prove misconduct, but show where controls belong.

Pair every revenue source with a customer guardrail. Track lending growth with default and affordability complaints. Track exchange income with the actual spread against a reference rate. Track subscriptions with feature use and cancellation success.

A price change must update marketing, confirmation, contracts, statements, and support together. It needs an effective date, an owner, and tests using real examples.

Clarity is an operating requirement

Information hidden in terms is not enough. It must be prominent, close to the decision, and understandable. Regulators care about what a person actually sees, not what could be found after ten clicks.

Use one name for a fee everywhere. Explain which charges return after a refund. If currency movement affects the refund, state how the new value is calculated.

Test the page with five target customers. Ask each to calculate the cost of one transfer or one year without help. Different answers mean the design failed. A clearer order and example work better than another legal paragraph.

Build a defensible price sheet

For every product, record the revenue source, payer, timing, and total in a normal and adverse example. Record the reference used for exchange or annual rates, the decision owner, and the last change.

Give the sheet to support, accounting, and a new customer. If all three calculate the same result, pricing is operable and auditable. If an ordinary invoice requires a private spreadsheet, the company has transferred its complexity to the customer.

Clear pricing creates measurable trust. Statement surprises and complaints fall, while sales staff know what they may promise. A sound price remains profitable because customers choose it knowingly, not because they are lost.