Saudi Arabia's Central Bank (SAMA) said on Saturday it had not banned trading of the Qatari riyal since Riyadh cut diplomatic ties with Doha, and said visiting Qatari citizens could exchange their currency. "Qatari nationals can exchange the Qatari riyal normally through licensed banks and money changers, in addition to using ATMs," SAMA said. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic and transport ties with Qatar on 5 June, accusing Doha of backing terrorism, which Qatar denies. Saudi Arabia ordered the expulsion of Qatari citizens from its territory, but exempted Qataris traveling on the annual Muslim haj pilgrimage to Mecca. Pilgrims from Qatar began arriving in Saudi Arabia on Thursday. Meanwhile, Saudi commercial bankers reported in June that SAMA had issued informal guidance deterring Saudi financial institutions from doing new business with Qatari banks. Many Saudi and UAE banks have pulled deposits from Qatar since the diplomatic rift, bankers say. As a result, foreign customers' deposits at banks in Qatar shrank to QAR170.6bn (USD46.9bn) in June from QAR184.6bn in May.