The UAE Card FX Index

The typical UAE card costs 3.14% to spend abroad with, across the 158 cards included in the index. That combines the bank's own markup with the card network's cross-currency charge — the two together are what lands on the statement, and most issuers quote only the first.

On AED 3,000 a month of foreign-currency spend, the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive card in the index is AED 2,081 a year. The card is the single largest variable — larger than the exchange rate you happen to get on any one day.

Yes. It is the same charge on every card — the networks levy it on the issuer — so it is not something one bank charges and another does not. What differs is how each issuer presents it. The UAE headline fee already contains it: the September 2025 move to 3.14% was broken down publicly as a 1% network conversion charge plus a 2.14% bank fee. So where an issuer quotes a rate without mentioning a network charge, that rate is read here as the all-in figure — 61 cards. 72 say a network fee applies on top without naming one, so 1.15% is added. 25 state their position outright, with a figure or a waiver.

2 cards in the index cost nothing on AED 3,000 a month of foreign spend, starting with the FAB Travel Credit Card from First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB). A card only reaches zero by waiving the network charge as well as its own markup.

Most cards charge their rate on every foreign transaction, from the first dirham. 2 products instead charge nothing up to a monthly ceiling, and a published rate only on the amount above it — the largest is AED 40,000 a month on the Sinder Founder Card. Spend under the ceiling and foreign spend costs nothing; spend over it and only the excess is charged. That makes them the cheapest option below the ceiling and an ordinary one above it, which is why this index prices every card at 5 levels of spend rather than quoting one headline rate.

The UAB World Credit Card from United Arab Bank (UAB), at 5.78% all in — AED 2,081 a year on AED 3,000 a month.