This document sets out the terms and conditions for your Kem account (hereafter referred to as “your account””you” “your”) and its related services. It also sets out other important things that you need to know.

These terms and conditions, along with the Fees page, Customer Privacy Notice and any other terms and conditions that apply to our services, form a legal agreement (the "agreement", or the "terms") between:

• you, the account holder; and
• us, Kem Technologies Holding Ltd. (hereafter referred to as “Kem account”, “Kem app”, “we,” “our,” or “us”).

We are a Kuwaiti company which is authorized to provide financial services under the Ministry of Commerce under our License number 2022/3990. Kem is not a Bank and our banking services are provided by our respective bank partners.

It's important for you to understand how your account works. You can ask for a copy of these terms and conditions through the Kem app, at any time.

If you'd like more information you might find it helpful to read our FAQs but these FAQs don't form part of our agreement with you.

The main way we provide our services is through the Kem mobile app. However, we provide our services in other ways too, like through web pages, other apps, APIs and other means. These terms apply whenever and however you access our services. This means they apply to all the ways you can access a particular service, even if we refer to the service being accessed through a specific means in these terms.

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Your account is a 'virtual' account that holds your e-money. It may hold e-money in different currencies at the same time.

E-money is an electronic alternative to cash. If you or someone else gives us money in one currency, we'll issue an equivalent value of e-money in that currency. We'll store the e-money in your account, and other people will accept it as payment. In these terms, we use ‘money’ to refer to e-money.

Once you have e-money in your account you'll be able to use our services. For example, you can do the following:

• send money to and receive money from other Kem accounts;
• view information about and manage your account.

We add new features and services all the time. We’ll let you know about these through the Kem app.

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Normally, you must be 18 or over to open a Kem account. If you are under 18 and we let you have a Kem account or any other service, we'll let you know any special terms and conditions that apply.

When you ask us to open an account, we or someone acting for us will ask for information about you and where the money you will put in your account comes from. We do this for a number of reasons, including to check your credit score and identity, and to meet our legal and regulatory requirements. Our Customer Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your information for these and other purposes. When we have the information we need, we will open your account.

You can’t:

• open more than one Kem personal account;
• open a new Kem account if we've previously closed a Kem account.

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Please keep your details up to date and let us know immediately if any information you've given us changes. If we discover that any of your information is incorrect, we will update it.

To meet our legal and regulatory requirements we might sometimes need to ask for more information about you (for example, if your spending increases). Please provide this information quickly so that there is no disruption to your account or our services.

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You can check all payments into and out of your account through the Kem app. We will not make any changes to your account information. It will be available to you through the Kem app while you are a customer. If you need to keep a copy of the information after your account is closed, you will need to download it while your account is still active. You can download this information from the app at any time.

We will send a notification to your mobile device each time a payment goes into or out of your account. You can turn off these notifications, but if you do, you should regularly check your payments on the Kem app. It's important that you know what payments go into and out of your account, so we recommend that you do not turn off notifications.

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We'll usually communicate with you through the Kem app.

This is how we will provide account information and tell you about any fraud, or suspected fraud, relating to your account. It is also how we will tell you if there is a security threat to your account. Make sure you regularly check the Kem app for this information.

To help keep your account safe, download the latest software for your mobile device and the latest version of the Kem app as soon as they are available.

We may also communicate with you by text message, Whatsapp or email, so you should regularly check your text messages and email account.

We will usually communicate with you in English or Arabic.

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You can close your account, and so end this agreement, at any time by letting us know. You can do this through the Kem app, by writing to us at our head office or by emailing us at [email protected].

If you, or we, close your account, we will give you at least 60 days to withdraw the money we hold for you (unless there are reasons preventing the transfer). This means any ordinary payment limits, and fees, will also still apply. For example, any limits on the minimum value of payments that apply while your account is open will also apply when your account is closed.

After these 60 days, you will no longer be entitled to any free payments that your plan entitled you to while your account was open. For any transfer you request, we charge our standard fee, subject to a minimum of 1KWD. If your remaining balance is less than or equal to 1KWD at the beginning of the 60 day period, or drops below it at any time during that period, the fee will be charged automatically and your account will be permanently closed after the period ends.

If your account has been temporarily restricted, we may not be able to close your account until we have completed our enquiries.

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We'll hold back enough money to cover any payments that you approved before your account was closed. You'll also still owe us any money that you owed us while your account was open.

For six years after your account has closed  you'll be able to contact customer services (at [email protected]) and ask them to send you the money we still hold for you.

Once your account is closed you can withdraw your money in the currency you hold in your account at that point by transferring it to another bank account.

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When we become aware of a payment for your account, or you add money to it, we issue the equivalent value of e-money to your account immediately.

When we receive that payment or the money you add, we quickly either:

• place it into one of the dedicated client money bank accounts that we hold with large commercial banks (client money accounts keep your money separated from our own money.); or

The time at which we receive a payment for you or receive the money you add depends how we receive it:

• We only become aware of inbound bank transfers when they arrive in our bank account. When we receive these transfers, we issue the e-money to your account straight away.
• When you add money on the Kem app (for example, by using your stored card, Apple or Google pay, or some other payment methods), we know the payment is coming before we actually receive it, so we issue the e-money to your account straight away. However, we don’t safeguard the money for these payments until we actually receive it. If it’s been more than five business days since we issued you the e-money but the payment still hasn't arrived, we safeguard the money for you, using our own money, anyway.

A business day is a day other than a weekend or bank holiday in Kuwait.

We keep safeguarding your money until you pay it out. This happens when you send it to another bank account or Kem user, or spend it in any other way.

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Safeguarding helps protect you if we were to become insolvent. If that were to happen, you (and all our other customers) would be paid out your e-money balances from our client money bank accounts. This process would be handled by an insolvency practitioner, not by us. However, safeguarding regulations make sure that once any costs related to an insolvency are paid out you will be paid from our client money accounts before anyone else.

We do everything we can to keep your money safe. We ask you to do the same by keeping your security details and Kem account safe.

This means you shouldn't keep your security details near your  device you use to access your account, and you should disguise or protect them if you write them down or store them. Don’t share your security details with anyone other than an  third-party provider who is acting in line with regulatory requirements.

Sometimes it's easy to forget to take the steps you should take to keep your money safe. Here are a few tips:

• make sure you close down the Kem app (or any other means of accessing your account) when you're not using it;
• keep the devices you use to access your Kem account secure;
• keep the factors used to log into your Kem account (like your email account and sim card or phone number) secure and don't let other people use them; and
• download the latest software for the device you are accessing Kem from and the latest version of the Kem app as soon as they are available.

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You can contact us in any of the following ways:

• Write to us: 41st Floor, KIPCO Tower, Khalid Ibn Al Waleed Street, Sharq, Kuwait
• Email us: Send us a message through our dedicated support email [email protected]
• Write a support ticket: Send us the details of your case through the Kem apps support channel.

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Please act reasonably and responsibly when using your Kem account, or any service we provide to you under it.

You cannot use your Kem account in the following ways, either directly or indirectly:

• for illegal purposes (for example, committing fraud);
• in a way that we reasonably believe might harm our ability to provide our services;
• only to send money to and receive money from a card account;
• for any transactions to receive cash other than making a withdrawal from an ATM (cash machine);
• to control or use a Kem account that’s not yours;
• to allow anyone else to have access to or use your account or the Kem app;
• to trade in foreign currencies for speculative purposes (that is, to take advantage of any expected rise or fall in the value of a currency) or to take advantage of discrepancies in the foreign exchange market.

Please also act in a respectful way towards us and our support staff – we're here to help you.

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You can add money to your account using a card registered with us (we call this your "stored card") or by Apple and Google Pay. Your stored card must be in your name.

There is more information on adding money to your account in our FAQs.

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Sometimes we might limit how much you can receive into or pay from your Kem account. We might also limit the value of money transfer you can carry out at any one time or over a period of time. These limits can change from time to time. Information about these limits is set out in our FAQs.

It's important that any payment to your account is made in the currency of your account. Otherwise, the payment will be converted to the currency of your account. This means that your account might be charged more or less than you expected. We won't be responsible for any losses if this happens.

Instant transfers

You can send money to, and receive money from, other Kem accounts. We call these sorts of payments Instant Transfers. All Instant Transfers are received immediately.

You can make an Instant Transfer to another Kem user’s account by choosing them from the contacts list in the Kem app, by using their username, or by using any other method we provide to identify them, and following the prompts.

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You can also make an Instant Transfer to a business which uses "Pay with Kem" to receive payments.

You can instruct us to make an Instant Transfer for a set amount from your Kem Account to a business (for example, instead of paying by card in a checkout). We call these payments "Customer Initiated Payments".

Customer Initiated Payments

Customer Initiated Payments are for a set amount and are one-off. The business will only ever be paid the amount you confirm and the business cannot collect any other payments without your permission.

We will notify you in the Kem app whenever a Customer Initiated Payment is made from your Kem account.

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We'll always try to process your payments correctly and on time, but sometimes things go wrong and a payment might be delayed or not received by the person you wanted to pay.

If something has gone wrong and the person you paid, or the person who paid you, is mistaken, let us know through the Kem app. You need to let us know as soon as possible, and no later than 13 months after payment.

If we received a payment on your behalf, but the money was not paid into your account on time, we'll immediately credit your account with the amount of the payment.

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You should always check that you have entered the correct details for the person you want to pay before you make a payment. It’s always a good idea to make a test payment of a small amount (say, 1KWD) to make sure that you have the account details correct. You should always think about the following:

• Always make sure you know the person you are making a payment to. If someone approaches you and asks you to make a payment to them, but you are not sure who they are or what the payment is for, you may be a victim of a scam and we may not be able to recover the money for you.
• The contacts you see in the Kem app are taken from the names and phone numbers you have saved to your own phone. These names and numbers are not verified by us or anyone else. This means that if you have saved the wrong number or wrong name to your phone, you will pay the wrong person and may lose your money.
• The usernames you see in the Kem app can look similar to other usernames and are able to be changed by individual users. We take steps to remove any inappropriate usernames, but these usernames are not verified by us or anyone else. This means that if you are not sure that the person is who they say they are, you may pay the wrong person and may lose your money.

We are not responsible if we make a payment to the person you tell us to, even if you gave us the wrong account number, username or phone number by mistake. However, if you ask us to, we’ll try to get your money back for you. We may also try to get you information about the beneficiary so that you can try to get it back yourself (if the law allows us to). While we will try to do these things, we don’t guarantee that we will, and in some cases we won’t be able to.

Although we may provide you with “confirmation of payee” services for some payments, the ultimate decision on whether to make those payments remains with you. We provide these services to help you make a more informed decision, but the information is provided by the institution holding the payee’s account, not by us, so we cannot guarantee its accuracy. This means that we, and any third parties we use to provide these services to you, are still not responsible for any payment you make to a wrong account.

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On the other hand, if a payment is mistakenly paid into your Kem account, we can reverse the payment or put a hold on it.

However, you should always check your account regularly to make sure everything is correct.

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You can easily send money to a friend who doesn't have a Kem account by setting up a ‘payment link’ in the Kem app. A payment link allows you to agree to pay a certain amount without entering the account details the payment will be made to. Instead, you choose the amount, share the link, and the recipient enters their account details themselves.

You can also create a payment link to receive payments and send that link to your friend.

Once you've sent the link to your friend, they will need to complete the payment link by entering the relevant details.

• If you are sending money using a payment link to someone who doesn’t have the app, your friend will need to create a Kem account. The payment will then be made to their Kem account which they can withdraw to their bank by entering their IBAN or Account number. Once they have made their account, the payment will be waiting in their Kem account to withdraw.
• If you are receiving money using a payment link, your friend will need to enter their card details, or details of a card added to Apple Pay or Google Pay, into the link. The payment will then be made from their card. We may put limits on the amount you can request using a payment link, which we will show you in the app.

All payment links are revocable. This means that before they have created their Kem account you can return the money into your Kem account. We do this to make sure that in the case of an error or a person not wanting to create an account you can revoke the money back into your account.

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We understand that when you make a payment, one of the most important things is that the person the payment is for receives it on time. When their bank will receive the money depends on what time you tell us to make the payment.

The bullets below explains when we'll make payments:

• When you make a Payment to a Kem account, you will receive the money into your Kem account instantly
• When you Withdraw to your bank account, you can use standard withdrawal and receive your money within 1-3 Business days or you can pay an extra fee to expedite your transaction to receive your money in your bank account instantly.

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We must refuse to make a payment or delay a payment (including inbound and outbound payments) in the following circumstances:

• if legal or regulatory requirements prevent us from making the payment or mean that we need to carry out further checks;
• if you have broken these terms and conditions in a way that we reasonably believe justifies us refusing or delaying your payment;
• if we believe that processing your instruction would break these terms and conditions or that your instruction doesn't contain all the information we need to make the payment properly;
• if the amount is over, or would take you over, any limit that applies to your account. We've set out the limits in our FAQs;
• if there is not enough money available in your account to make the payment and cover any charge;
• if a bankruptcy order is made against you or you've entered into an individual voluntary arrangement with your creditors;
• if, even after doing everything reasonably possible, we won't be able to make the payment on time;
• if a third party prevents us from making the payment (for example, if Mastercard or Visa do not allow a payment);
• if you owe us money or we intend to exercise our right of set-off (as explained below);
• if we have asked you for important information we reasonably need and you have not given us that information; or
• if we have suspended your account.

When we refuse to make a payment, we’ll always try to let you know.

If we can, we’ll use the Kem app to tell you that we have refused to make a payment. If you'd like to find out why we refused the payment, and what you can do to solve any problem, please contact us through the app.

We won't be responsible for any losses you suffer as a result of us refusing or delaying a payment.

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If you think someone has stolen from your account, let us know as soon as possible through the Kem app (and no later than 13 months after the money was taken). We'll pay the money back into your account if:

• you couldn't have known that your security details were at risk of being misused;
• the payment happened because someone we're responsible for made a mistake;
• the payment was taken after you told us that someone knew your security details, or we didn't give you a way to tell us about this; or
• the law required us to make you follow certain prompts when you instructed us to make the payment and we didn't do this.

We'll also pay back any charges you had to pay as a result of the payment being taken from your account.

We won't refund any money if you've acted fraudulently, or you intentionally or carelessly failed to keep your security details safe (unless you told us about this before the payment was taken from your account). For example, we won't refund you if you gave someone your account details and they made a payment using your account without you knowing about it.

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The safety of your money is important to us. We might prevent you from making payments from your account or with your Kem balance if we're reasonably concerned about its security or that it might be used fraudulently or without your permission.

We might also have to block your account to meet our legal obligations.

We'll tell you through the Kem app before, or as soon as possible after, we block your Kem app. We'll also let you know why we've done it (unless it would reduce your or our security or it would be unlawful).

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We may close or suspend your account immediately, and end your access to our website, in exceptional circumstances. Exceptional circumstances include, for example the following:

• if we have good reason to suspect that you are behaving fraudulently or otherwise criminally;
• if you haven't given us (or someone acting on our behalf) any information we need, or we have good reason to believe that information you have provided is incorrect or not true;
• if you've broken these terms and conditions in a serious or persistent way and you haven't put the matter right within a reasonable time of us asking you to;
• if we have good reason to believe that your use of the Kem app is harmful to us or our software, systems or hardware;
• if we have good reason to believe that you continuing to use your account could damage our reputation or goodwill;
• if we have asked you to repay money you owe us and you have not done so within a reasonable period of time;
• if you've been declared bankrupt; or
• if we have to do so under any law, regulation, court order or ombudsman’s instructions.

If we close your account in exceptional circumstances, you will not be able to credit the account, make any payments, withdraw money to your bank account, or send money to other Kem accounts. Inbound payments will be rejected and returned to the sender.

We may also decide to close or suspend your account for other reasons. We would contact you through the Kem app at least two months before we do this.

Closing your account and ending the agreement may also end any other agreements you have with us or through us. You can get more information through the Kem app or by contacting us.

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We'll only change these terms and conditions for the following reasons:

• if we think it will make them easier to understand or more helpful to you;
• to reflect the way our business is run, particularly if the change is needed because of a change in the way any financial system or technology is provided;
• to reflect legal or regulatory requirements that apply to us;
• to reflect changes in the cost of running our business; or
• because we are changing or introducing new services or products that affect our existing services or products covered by these terms and conditions.

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If we add a new product or service that doesn't change the terms and conditions of your account, we may add the product or service immediately and let you know before you use it.

Otherwise, we'll give you a weeks notice through the Kem app before we make any change. We'll assume you're happy with the change unless you tell us that you want to close your account before the change is made.

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We'll do as much as reasonably possible to make sure that our services are not interrupted and are accessible at a reasonable speed. However, we can't promise that this will always be the case or that the services will be free from faults. We also rely on some third parties to provide services to you, which can sometimes disrupt our services. We’ll always do our best to solve any problems with our services, no matter what the cause.

We will not be responsible for losses resulting from us failing to meet our obligations for payments into and out of your account because:

• you have breached these terms and conditions or have acted unlawfully;
• of a legal or regulatory requirement; or
• unforeseeable events outside our control, which were unavoidable at the time.

We will only be responsible for foreseeable losses. If we break the agreement, we will only be responsible for any loss that we could have foreseen at the time we entered into the agreement.

Nothing in these terms and conditions removes or limits our liability for death or personal injury resulting from our negligence or from fraud or fraudulent claims and statements.

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You may be responsible to us for certain losses.

If you have broken these terms and conditions, and this has caused us to suffer a loss, the following will apply:

• you will be responsible for any losses we suffer as a result of your action (we will try to keep the losses to a minimum);
• if your actions result in us losing profits, you may also be responsible for those losses. You won't be responsible if this would mean that we are compensated twice for the same loss; and
• you will also be responsible for any reasonable legal costs that arise as a result of our losses.

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If you’re unhappy with our service, we’ll try to put things right

We always do our best, but we realise that things sometimes go wrong. If you have a complaint, please contact us.

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If you'd just like to speak to someone about an issue that's concerning you, please contact us through the Kem app. We can usually settle matters quickly through the app. You’ll probably need to give us the information below.

If you prefer you can make your complaint outside of the app, you can email us at [email protected].

You’ll need to tell us:

• your name;
• the phone number and email address associated with your account;
• when the problem arose; and
• how you'd like us to put the matter right.

We'll look into your complaint and respond to you by email. We will communicate with you in English or Arabic, unless we tell you otherwise.

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We need to collect information about you to provide you with the services under the agreement. For more information about how we use your personal information, see our Customer Privacy Notice.

By entering into the agreement, you acknowledge that we will gather, process and store your personal information for the purpose of providing our services to you. This doesn’t affect any rights and obligations you or we have under data protection law.

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Some of the features we make available in the Kem app are social in nature. This means that other Kem customers may be able to see limited information about you (such as your name, profile picture). For example, if a customer searches for your username in the app, they will see your full name and profile picture.

By entering into this agreement, you acknowledge that limited information about you may be accessible to other Kem customers depending on your privacy settings. You can change your privacy settings in the Kem app at any time.

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We own all the intellectual property in our products (for example, the content in our app and on our website, our logo and designs). You must not use our intellectual property as your own, except to enjoy our products. You also must not reverse-engineer any of our products (that is, reproduce them after a detailed examination of their construction or composition).

Our contract with you

Only you and we have any rights under the agreement.

The agreement is personal to you and you cannot transfer any rights or obligations under it to anyone else.

Our right to transfer

We will only transfer any of your and our rights or obligations under the agreement if we reasonably think that this won't have a significant negative effect on your rights under these terms and conditions or we need to do so to keep to any legal or regulatory requirement. When we transfer rights and obligations we call this ‘novation’. When we only transfer rights, we call this ‘assignment’.

Kuwaiti law applies

The laws of the State of Kuwait apply to these terms and conditions.

The English version of the agreement applies

If these terms and conditions are translated into another language, the translation is for reference only and the English version will apply.

Our right to enforce the agreement

If you have broken the agreement between you and us and we don't enforce our rights, or we delay in enforcing them, this will not prevent us from enforcing those or any other rights at a later date.

Taking legal action against us

If you want to take legal action against us in the courts, only the courts of Kuwait can deal with any matter relating to these terms and conditions.

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