Saudi Payments Network

Type: Public
On the web: http://www.spanamerica.com
Employees: 253
Employee growth: (20.7%)

With its mattresses and cushioning products, Span-America Medical Systems offers more comfort than a good bedside manner. The company's medical division makes therapeutic mattresses and mattress overlays (under the Geo-Matt and PressureGuard brand names), as well as Span-Aid patient positioners (used to elevate and support body parts) and Isch-Dish and Sacral Dish pressure-relief seat cushions to aid wound healing. The firm also supplies safety catheters and skin care creams, as well as consumer bedding and industrial foam products. Span-America sells its health care wares through sales staff and distributors to hospitals, home health care dealers, and extended-care facilities in the US and Canada.

Key numbers for fiscal year ending September, 2008:
Sales: $59.3M
One year growth: (2.3%)
Net income: $4.9M
Income growth: 69.4%

Officers:
Chairman: Thomas D. Henrion
President, CEO, and Director: James D. Ferguson
VP Finance, CFO, Secretary, and Director: Richard C. Coggins

Competitors:
Covidien
Invacare
Sunrise Medical

Short for standardized portfolio analysis of risk (SPAN). This is a leading margin system, which has been adopted by most options and futures exchanges around the world. SPAN is based on a sophisticated set of algorithms that determine margin according to a global (total portfolio) assessment of the one-day risk for a trader's account.

Investopedia Says:
Options and futures writers are required to have a sufficient amount of margin in their accounts to cover potential losses. The SPAN system, through its algorithms, sets the margin of each position to its calculated worst possible one-day move. The system, after calculating the margin of each position, can shift any excess margin on existing positions to new positions or existing positions that are short of margin.

Related Links:
Find out how it provides futures and commodity option strategists with more bang for their margin buck! The Advantages of SPAN Margin
Risk-management tool SPAN margin boosts profitability prospects by helping to determine when to exit a trade. How Does Your Margin Grow?

Trade name for non-ionic surface agents derived from fatty acids and hexahydric alcohols. They are oil-soluble, in contrast to Tweens which are water-soluble. Used in bread as crumb-softeners (anti-staling) to improve doughs, cakes, and biscuits, and as emulsifiers.

The Saudi Payments Network (SPAN) is the only & major payment system in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 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, AMEX or MasterCard). All Banks in Saudi Arabia are required by the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (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.

There are now more than 6,000 ATMs and 55,000 POSs connected to the network and in 2006 more than 340 million transactions went through SPAN, with a total value of 160 billion SR (42.5 Billion USD).

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

1. Al-Rajhi Bank
2. Al Bilad Bank
3. Arab National Bank
4. Bank AlJazira
5. Emirates Bank International
6. National Commercial Bank
7. Riyad Bank
8. SABB
9. Saudi Hollandi Bank
10. Saudi Fransi Bank
11. Saudi Investment Bank
12. Samba Financial Group
13. National Bank of Kuwait
14. Bank Muscat

See also

• Smart Card
• EFTPOS
• Visa_Inc.
• American Express
• MasterCard
• The Benefit Company

External links

SPAN home page

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