1) All data and information relating to customers’ accounts, deposits, safe deposit boxes and trusts with Licensed Financial Institutions and related transactions shall be considered confidential in nature, and may not be perused, or directly or indirectly disclosed to any third party without the written permission of owner of the account or deposit, his legal attorney or authorized agent, and in legally authorized cases.

2) Such prohibition shall remain valid, even until end of the business relationship between the customer and the Licensed Financial Institution for any reason.

3) Chairmen and members of boards of directors, managers and employees of Licensed Financial Institutions, and experts, consultants and technicians assigned to perform functions therein, are prohibited from disclosing any information or data on their customers; their accounts or deposits or transactions relating thereto, or enable third parties to peruse them, except in legally authorized cases.

4) Such prohibition shall apply to all agencies and Persons, and whoever, by virtue of his profession, position or nature of work, is able to, directly or indirectly, peruse such information and data.

5) The Central Bank shall establish rules and conditions organizing exchange of banking and credit information, in its capacity as the competent Regulatory Authority in the State in this regard.

6) The provisions of item nos. (1) and (2) of this article shall be without prejudice to the following:

• a. The powers legally vested on security and judicial authorities, the Central Bank and its employees.
• b. The duties assigned to auditors of accounts of the concerned institutions.
• c. The obligation of the concerned institutions to issue, upon request of the beneficiary, a certificate of the reasons for declining to cash a check.
• d. The obligation of the concerned institutions to issue a certificate of partial payment of value of a check, where the consideration for payment is less than the value of the check, pursuant to the provisions of the referenced Commercial Transactions Law.
• e. The right of the concerned institutions to disclose whole or part of the data relating to the customer’s transactions, in order to establish its right in a legal dispute in respect of such transactions, with its customer.
• f. Provisions of established laws and international agreements in the State, in addition to anti-money laundering, terrorist financing and illegal organizations provisions

1. The Central Bank shall create the regulations for protection of clients of licensed financial institutions, in proportion to the nature of the activities practiced by such institutions and the financial services and productions they provide.
2. The Central Bank may establish a unit with independent legal personality to receive and decide on the complaints of clients of the licensed financial institutions. The Board of Directors shall issue a decision to establish such unit and determine its functions, rules of procedure and powers as well as the human resources and financial affairs regulations applicable thereto.
3. The Central Bank and licensed financial institutions shall jointly work to raise the community awareness about the types of banking services and financial products and the risks inherent in them, through all available means of communication and media, in accordance with the controls set by the Central Bank.
4. Licensed financial institutions may not charge interest on accumulated interest, i.e. compound interests, in respect of the facilities granted to clients. In this regard, the controls and rules set by the Central Bank in the control regulations issued thereby shall be followed.

Article (121 bis)

Credit Facility Guarantees

1. The licensed financial institutions shall obtain the sufficient guarantees for all types of facilities provided to the natural clients and private sole proprietorships, in accordance with the client's income or the guarantee, if any, and the size of the required facilities, as determined by the Central Bank.
2. No application, action or plea filed to the competent judicial authorities or the arbitral tribunals by any licensed financial institution in respect ofa credit facility provided for a natural person or a private sole proprietorship shall be accepted if such financial institution fails to obtain the guarantees referred to in Clause (1) of this Article.
3. The Central Bank may impose administrative and financial penalties which it deems appropriate on the licensed financial institutions which violate the provision of Clause (1) of this Article, in accordance with Article (137) of the present Decree-Law.

The Board of Directors may issue regulations for protection of deposits and the rights of depositors of Licensed Financial Institutions in coordination with the Ministry. Such regulation may include establishment of a compensation fund and determination of its structure.

The Board of Directors shall establish necessary regulations and mechanisms to ensure that every natural Person shall have the right to access all or part of the banking and financial services and products from Licensed Financial Institutions suited to his/her need.