The banking desk.
Card launches, salary-transfer cycles, rate cuts and fee changes across the UAE issuers we track, with the source basis linked and published denominations retained.
Latest reporting
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UAE Card Change Log: correcting our Liv salary and fee figures
We corrected our Liv salary eligibility and Cashback+ fee figures against the issuer's key facts. This is a DubaiPoints correction, not a new bank change.
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UAE Salary Switch Scorecard: when does the reward become spendable?
A salary-switch campaign deadline is not a payment date. Compare the qualifying and payout clocks, then build a record before moving payroll.
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UAE Card Change Log: Citi Cash Back has two separate spend tests
Citi Cash Back has one spend test for the direct welcome credit and another for the annual fee waiver. Here is what Citi's UAE terms say.
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UAE Salary Switch Scorecard: three offers on an AED 20,000 salary
Compare Emirates Islamic, FAB and DIB on the same UAE salary: what qualifies, when cashback arrives, and which costs the headline leaves out.
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DIB cuts the grocery and school-fee cashback caps on its Consumer Cashback cards
Since 10 October 2026, DIB's Consumer Cashback Reward card pays at most AED 200 a month on supermarkets and on school fees, down from AED 300. The Platinum card's caps fall from AED 400 to AED 300. The AED 1,000 monthly total is unchanged.
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Mashreq launches three Aura cards with Alshaya: up to 5% on groceries, paid in Aura Points
Mashreq and Alshaya Group have launched three Aura Mastercards in the UAE: a free-for-life card, the AED 525 World and the AED 1,575 World Elite. Every reward is paid in Aura Points, which spend only at Alshaya brands such as Starbucks, H&M and Shake Shack.
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Emirates NBD: open an account in the app, deposit AED 50,000, get an Air Arabia return ticket — to 31 December
New Emirates NBD customers who open an account in the ENBD X app between 1 October and 31 December 2026 and fund it with AED 50,000 within seven days get a guaranteed Air Arabia return ticket, per ENBD's offer page. An average balance from AED 10,000 or a salary from AED 5,000 enters a draw for 90 tickets. ENBD can claw the reward back.
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Emirates NBD's new salary-transfer offer: AED 1,500 to AED 6,000 cashback, to 24 December
ENBD's new offer pays cashback, not the bonus interest of its February–June cycle. New customers earning AED 15,000+ get AED 1,500 or AED 2,000 for a salary transfer, a credit card and AED 5,000 of spend. A loan or wealth product lifts it to AED 2,000 or AED 6,000. Fewer than twelve consecutive salaries and ENBD can claw it back.
Earlier reporting
15 storiesThe reporting continues beyond this edition. These stories were published from to ; dates are original publication dates.
Citi's welcome ladder runs to 31 January 2027 — AED 300 to AED 1,500, and only the two entry cards come out ahead in year one
Emirates Islamic's Emarati card pays AED 1,000 cashback, now extended to 31 December
Al Hilal deactivated its Etihad Guest cards on 30 November 2025 — the Infinite page still offers 60,000 Miles to apply
Open the full archiveFull archive is open (12 more stories)
Recorded publication dates: to . Newest first.
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FAB's free-holiday offer closes 30 September — first 300 get Paris
Apply for a FAB Cashback Credit Card by 30 September and spend AED 20,000 in 30 days for a Holiday Factory voucher. Only the first 300 to redeem get Disneyland Paris.
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ADCB cuts the Essential Cashback welcome bonus from AED 350 to AED 300
ADCB's own product page dropped the Essential Cashback Credit Card's welcome cashback from up to AED 350 to up to AED 300 on 30 August 2026. The AED 1,000 monthly spend gate and the AED 70/month cinema cashback are unchanged.
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ADIB launches Marriott Bonvoy cards — 200,000 points, AED 2,500 fee
ADIB becomes the second UAE issuer of Marriott Bonvoy co-brands, and the first Sharia-compliant one. The Infinite runs AED 2,500 a year with a 200,000-point welcome offer to 30 November; the Signature is AED 499.
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Al Hilal's 'up to AED 15,000' salary campaign ended 4 August — the page still ranks #1 and reads as live
Al Hilal Bank's headline-grabbing salary-transfer and card-spend campaign closed on 4 August 2026, but the campaign page still tops search results and nothing on it says 'expired'. Anyone transferring a salary today on the strength of that page earns nothing.
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Emirates Islamic pays banded salary-transfer cashback to 30 September — unless you've banked with ENBD lately
Emirates Islamic's salary-transfer cashback runs to 30 September 2026: AED 50–3,000 in account cashback by salary band for expats plus up to AED 1,000 in Covered Card spend rewards. The new-to-Group rule, the enrolment form and the lowest-month banding are the fine print that decides who actually gets paid.
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RAKBANK's AED 4,000 salary-transfer cash reward closes 31 August — the first salary has to land by then
RAKBANK's no-credit-card-required salary-transfer cash reward — up to AED 4,000 — ends 31 August 2026, and the qualifying first salary must arrive inside the window. Both prior RAKBANK cycles vanished from the site after close, so there is no promised successor to wait for.
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Citi doubles the Cash Back card's joining bonus to AED 300 — same AED 6,000 spend condition
Our August 2026 report on Citi’s Cash Back welcome credit rising from AED 150 to AED 300, with the qualifying spend unchanged. Check the offer shown on your application page.
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ADCB rebalances the 365 Cashback earn table: groceries cut to 3%, fuel up to 5%, subscriptions added
ADCB's flagship cashback Visa now pays 6% on dining, 5% on fuel & Salik and digital/AI subscriptions, and 3% on groceries — a mid-2026 rebalance verified against the product page and Schedule of Fees Ver.46. The AED 5,000 monthly floor and AED 1,000 cap are unchanged.
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Emirates Islamic extends the Switch Cashback welcome offer to 30 September
The AED 500 welcome cashback on Emirates Islamic's Switch Cashback Card — AED 15,000 of retail spend within 60 days of approval — now runs to 30 September 2026. Confirmed against the bank's card page in our July verification pass.
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ENBD's bonus-interest salary transfer: 5% to 6% on AED 25,000 for six months, explained in AED
Emirates NBD's 1 February – 30 June 2026 cycle pays bonus interest on a salary-transfer balance instead of a fixed cash sum. Here's what it actually pays in AED, who clears the gates, and how it compares to a cash-bonus cycle.
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Mashreq Cashback rate cut: fuel, utilities, government and telecom fall to 0.15% on 13 June 2026
Mashreq's published notice confirms a category-rate cut effective 13 June 2026 on the Cashback Credit Card — government, utilities, education, charity, fuel, rental and telecom drop from 0.33% to 0.15%. The 5% on dining, 1% on other UAE/international spend, and the AED 5 monthly free bill payment all stay.
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May 2026 welcome cycles end at FAB, RAKBANK, HSBC and Emirates Islamic — what changed, what to watch for
Four UAE issuers closed their May 2026 welcome cycles on 31 May. We've reframed every affected review on the site. Here's the cycle-end summary — what each cycle paid, what readers who already applied are owed, and what the next cycle is likely to look like.
