UAE Bank Exchange Rates Today: FAB, Emirates NBD, Dubai Islamic Bank, ADIB and Bank of Sharjah Compared

Every UAE bank displays a board of foreign exchange rates, and no two boards agree. For a business paying a supplier in euros or a resident sending money home, the spread between a bank's buy and sell rate is the cost of the transaction. This comparison takes the rates displayed by five banks on 10 November 2026 (captured around 5:15pm UAE time) and sets them against the official Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) table.

US dollar: the peg in practice

The dirham is pegged at 3.6725 to the dollar, and that is the CBUAE rate every day. Banks quote around it. "Buy" is what the bank pays you per dollar; "sell" is what you pay the bank.

Even on a pegged currency the boards differ by a factor of four: from under 1% between buy and sell at Emirates NBD to about 4% at Dubai Islamic Bank.

Euro and sterling

Board spreads on the euro run from 6% to over 10%. These are counter-style rates for small tickets; a business with a treasury relationship will be quoted far tighter. The table is still a fair guide to which boards are wide and which are narrow.

What a EUR 10,000 supplier payment costs

Buying EUR 10,000 at each bank's displayed sell rate, compared with the same amount at the official CBUAE mid rate (AED 41,125):

The gap between the cheapest and dearest board is about AED 1,300 on one payment. Ask for a quoted rate before sending anything sizeable.

Indian rupee

For remittances the quote that matters is the bank's INR sell rate: how many dirhams you pay per rupee. Inverted, it is the rupees you get per dirham.

Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank's board did not show a rupee rate at capture time. Exchange houses and remittance apps often beat bank boards on this corridor, so treat these as the bank benchmark, not the market best.

The bank rate is not your VAT or tax rate

This is the point finance teams most often get wrong. The rate your bank applied to a payment decides the dirhams that moved. It does not decide the dirham value on a tax invoice or in the corporate tax return:

• VAT invoices in foreign currency are converted at the exchange rate approved by the Central Bank at the date of supply (Article 69 of the VAT Decree-Law). See the Article 69 guide.
• Corporate tax amounts are converted at Central Bank of the UAE rates under FTA Decision No. 13 of 2023.
• The difference between the invoice value at the Central Bank rate and the dirhams the bank actually credited or debited is an FX gain or loss.

Reading the boards as JSON

Each board is available as structured data, with the bank's own time stamp where it shows one and the official rate alongside for comparison:

curl "https://allratestoday.com/api/open/bank-rates/ae/enbd?ccy=EUR"
# "name": "Emirates NBD", "bank_updated_at": "11/10/2026 5:10:44 PM",
# "buy": 3.97593, "sell": 4.25966, "mid": 4.117795, "basis": "Counter board"

Bank codes: fab, enbd, dib, adib, bos. The official table is at /api/open/central-bank/cbuae. A treasury dashboard that plots the two against each other shows at a glance what the bank is charging over the reference. Board pages for each bank are under UAE commercial bank rates.

FAQ

Which UAE bank has the best exchange rate?

It changes by currency and by day. On the boards captured on 10 November 2026, Bank of Sharjah and Emirates NBD showed the narrowest euro spreads and Emirates NBD the narrowest dollar spread, while the two Islamic banks showed the widest. Always ask for a quoted rate on larger amounts.

Why is the bank's USD rate not exactly 3.6725?

3.6725 is the peg and the Central Bank of the UAE rate. Banks buy dollars a little below it and sell a little above it; the difference is their margin.

Can I use my bank's exchange rate on a UAE tax invoice?

No. Article 69 of the VAT Decree-Law requires the exchange rate approved by the Central Bank at the date of supply. The bank's rate determines the cash received, and the difference is an FX gain or loss.

Are these the rates I will get in the bank's app?

Not necessarily. They are the rates each bank displayed on its website at capture time. Banks may apply different rates by channel, customer segment and amount.

How often do UAE bank boards change?

Banks update through the business day. Some show a last-updated time on the page, which is passed through in the data; others show none.