transactions executed through atms went up to 1, 335. 5 million in 2013 from 412. 1 million in 2004. during the same period, the total number of transactions carried out through pos terminals increased to 294. 1 million with a total value of sar 144. 3 billion from 52. 1 million with a total value of sar 23. 9 billion. the number of bills paid through sadad system increased to 160. 8 million with a value of sar 176. 6 billion in 2013 from 43. 5 million with a value of sar 22. 0 billion in 2007. within the framework of its supervisory and oversight functions over the insurance sector, sama considered many files of insurance companies. by the end of 2013, sama licensed 35 insurance and reinsurance companies. besides, sama approved 194 offices to provide insurance related services. sama issued a number of regulations and rules to regulate the activities of the financing sector in the kingdom, improve its services, promote governance and transparency, protect the rights of its beneficiaries and create a competitive environment to contribute to provision of better financing services to meet the needs of the market and beneficiaries at competitive prices. up to the end of july 2014, sama licensed 12 banks and 4 companies to conduct the activity of real estate finance and financial leasing, and 4 companies to carry out other bis central bankers ’ speeches financing activities. sama also granted initial approvals on 11 applications for licensing pending the completion of the legal requirements of the ministry of commerce and industry. at the international level, the kingdom holds a prominent position. it is an active member of the g20 since its establishment and of several international financial organizations. sama represents the kingdom in a number of international forums and institutions, such as the bank for international settlements, the financial stability board, basel committee, the international association of insurance supervisors, the islamic financial services board and the gulf monetary council. currently, sama is participating in more than 25 committees, working groups and sub - committees in international commissions and organizations. sama effectively contributes to the efforts exerted in international regulatory reforms, enabling sama to cope with the latest developments and international standards in supervision and control. on this occasion, i pray to almighty allah to preserve the security and stability of our country and may the kingdom ’ s continue its development march under the wise leadership of the custodian of the two holy mosques, crown prince and deputy crown prince. bis central bankers ’ speeches

growth of 16 percent. individual proprietorship firms represented 93. 1 percent of the total of annual average growth, limited liability enterprises 4. 7 percent and holding enterprises 0. 6 percent. economic activity of these enterprises was focused in three areas : commercial activity 34. 3 percent, construction and building 32. 3 percent and manufacturing industries 14. 6 percent. small enterprises with less than 5 employees accounted for the largest share of 55. 5 percent of the total number of enterprises at the end of 1430h, while the rest, enterprises with more than 60 employees represented 3. 8 percent. these data show that most of the enterprises in the kingdom are small, in terms of the number of workers. smes ’ contribution to the kingdom ’ s gdp is very low, accounting for 33 percent, while smes constituted 64. 3 percent of japan ’ s gdp, 43. 3 percent of spain ’ s gdp, 56 percent of france ’ s gdp, 44 percent of austria ’ s gdp, 43 percent of canada ’ s gdp and 33 percent of australia ’ s gdp. smes ’ contribution to the u. s. a ’ s gdp is more than 50 percent. the insignificant contribution of smes to the kingdom ’ s gdp may be due to the oil and governmental sector which represent the major impetus of economic activity. dear brothers and sisters, smes are facing clear challenges in gaining the necessary funding for meeting their expansion needs due to various reasons including poor management, and lack of adequate guarantees and, subsequently, the difficulty of obtaining the necessary funding. in order to overcome this problem in the kingdom, the ministry of finance, in collaboration with saudi banks, established a guarantee program ( kafalah ) for financing smes. the program, with a capital of rls 200 million, is managed by saudi industrial development fund to cover a proportion of the risk of the financing entity in case of the failure of the guaranteed activity in repaying the finance or part thereof. the program also aims at encouraging banks to finance smes that have the constituents for success, but at the same time, they cannot present the necessary guarantees or accounting records to prove their eligibility for funding. the program has recorded good performance since its inception in 2006 until 1 - oct - 2010, as the number of guarantees approved by the ministry of finance during that period reached 1, 668 with a total value of rls 644 million, while loans granted by banks under the umbrella of the program amounted to rls 1. 6 billion