Technical failures in WAMD system

KUWAIT CITY, May 20: The Central Bank of Kuwait has instructed the automated banking services company “KNet” to implement a penalty system for banks that experience technical failures in processing customer payments through the WAMD payment system, launched in 2024.

According to informed sources, a fine ranging from KD 1 to KD 20 will be imposed on the service-providing bank for each payment transaction that fails due to technical system issues, depending on the duration of the outage, which ranges from one minute to more than 30 minutes. As per KNet’s penalty regulations for technical failures in the WAMD system, a bank will be fined KD 1 for each transaction failure lasting between one and four minutes, KD 5 for failures between five and 15 minutes, KD 10 for failures between 15 and 30 minutes, and KD 20 for delays exceeding 30 minutes. It is worth noting that, according to the Central Bank of Kuwait’s data, WAMD instant payment transfers executed in the first quarter of 2026 amounted to around KD 2.646 billion, distributed across 40.382 million transactions.

This reflects a 5.1 percent growth in March, equivalent to 43.7 million transactions on a monthly basis. As a result, the value of transfers through the service during the first three months of this year rose to KD 897 million across 13.701 million transactions, compared to KD 853.3 million carried out through 13.133 million transactions in February.

The sources explained that implementing a penalty regulation for technical failures in WAMD instant payment system represents a continuation of the Central Bank’s approach in adopting the latest technologies and developing payment services and systems in Kuwait. This is driven by its belief in the importance of enhancing the efficiency and flexibility of financial transactions to meet public needs, in line with Kuwait’s vision for a more advanced digital future. They affirmed that the Central Bank is keen to strengthen the infrastructure for using WAMD to conduct direct inter-account transfers through bank applications using only a phone number, operating around the clock without interruption, even in the event of limited technical glitches.

The sources went on to explain that with the remarkable growth of WAMD to the extent that it has been described as the fastest growing service after attracting 30 percent of banking users within the first three months of its launch in June 2024, the regulatory support mechanisms for WAMD have diversified. The latest example is the ability to return funds received in error within up to seven days of the transaction date via the bank’s application transfer screen, allowing the customer to recover the amount or return it directly to the sender easily.