Best UAE banks for receiving USD and other currencies?

[YSB]

I have a LLC in Shams freezone in the UAE. One of my clients based in the US will be sending a monthly USD amount my UAE bank.

I'd like to know which UAE bank has a simple account opening process and doesn't charge a crazy conversion fees from USD to AED?

Also is it worth opening a USD currency account if the money will be withdrawn within the UAE? I assume there is no way to withdraw actual dollars here.

 

[TheCryptoAnt]

Also is it worth opening a USD currency account if the money will be withdrawn within the UAE? I assume there is no way to withdraw actual dollars here.

Its remarkably easy to get cash in mayor currencies in UAE

I like Emirates NBD |

Business Bank Accounts | Open a Business Account | Emirates NBD

Emirates NBD's Business Bank Accounts cover all your everyday business banking needs, from a basic checking account to interest-earning accounts and flexible deposits.

www.emiratesnbd.com

Best Bank in Dubai and UAE | Emirates NBD

Emirates NBD is one of the top banks in UAE, offering banking services tailored for your needs. Start enjoying simple banking with Emirates NBD services.

www.emiratesnbd.com

 

[climbwave]

EMIRATES NBD and you can have USD/GBP and EUR.
Cons part of the bank is lower spread.

 

[YSB]

Its remarkably easy to get cash in mayor currencies in UAE

I like Emirates NBD |

Business Bank Accounts | Open a Business Account | Emirates NBD

Emirates NBD's Business Bank Accounts cover all your everyday business banking needs, from a basic checking account to interest-earning accounts and flexible deposits.

www.emiratesnbd.com

Best Bank in Dubai and UAE | Emirates NBD

Emirates NBD is one of the top banks in UAE, offering banking services tailored for your needs. Start enjoying simple banking with Emirates NBD services.

www.emiratesnbd.com

From what I understand ENBD is the hardest to open an account with and they have minimum balance requirement of AED 200,000. Is that correct?

 

[climbwave]

From what I understand ENBD is the hardest to open an account with and they have minimum balance requirement of AED 200,000. Is that correct

From what I understand ENBD is the hardest to open an account with and they have minimum balance requirement of AED 200,000. Is that correct?

It's not correct. You can easly open account in UAE. With UAE ID, You have a full set of service and without ID basics access to account.

 

[YSB]

It's not correct. You can easly open account in UAE. With UAE ID, You have a full set of service and without ID basics access to account.

That is interesting, and just to be clear, we're talking about a business bank account here?

 

[climbwave]

That is interesting, and just to be clear, we're talking about a business bank account here?

No, individual account. I do not know about buisness but will explore soon as starting up now.

 

[YSB]

No, individual account. I do not know about buisness but will explore soon as starting up now.

My question was about a company account.

 

[TheCryptoAnt]

From what I understand ENBD is the hardest to open an account with and they have minimum balance requirement of AED 200,000. Is that correct?

Its not easy thats for sure, and in my case it took almost 2 months.

The minimum balance depends on the package contracted, info here:

Business Packages | Business Banking | Emirates NBD

Business Packages | Business Banking | Emirates NBD

www.emiratesnbd.com

 

[JimBeam]

Opening a business account in UAE is difficult and can take from couple of months up to half a year.
(and they can decline the opening without giving a reason)

USD<>AED exchange rates are not that of an issue as the USD/AED rate is fixed so you can expect to loose about 0.2% to 0.5%.
For all other currencies like EUR the spreads are much bigger and you can expect to lose even 5% on an exchange.

If you exchange larger amounts you can also contact your RM and get a slightly better rate.

It is possible to withdraw foreign currency (USD/EUR) but not all banks allow that and not all branches have the cash.
This information is sometimes hard to find out and you'll get conflicting information from the staff but once you figure out what branches you can do it - then it's super simple.

Basically, AED = USD and the exchange spread is super tight, so no reasons to worry about it.
Your worries are: opening bank account or if you deal with other currencies like EUR, GBP, CHF...

 

[rkadius]

~1.32 percent to withdraw cash from your foreign currency account at Emirates NBD.
Source: https://www.emiratesnbd.com/en/assets/File/Personal_Banking_SOC_POSTER.pdf

Call them with the amount requested then visit branch.

 

[JimBeam]

I think that the fee for Mashreq is 1% + vat making it a total of 1.05%

But I thought that the question was not dealing with cash - than with receiving funds to bank account and exchanging them...
Also, if's probably cheaper to exchange USD to AED and to withdraw AED if you plan on spending it in UAE.
If you want to take it abroad than you can exchange AED back to UAE at exchange office.

With EUR things are different and it's much better to withdraw the EUR, pay the withdrawal fee...

 

[TheCryptoAnt]

Maybe @Fred can help here somehow

 

[Fred]

Maybe @Fred can help here somehow

I made here already a post but either didn't went through, was reported or disappeared - whatever.

What I said is that with a crazy cheap low rep SHAMS Company you don't have any serious options beside of RAKBANK anyway.

AED/USD like mentioned is affordable around 0.5% - all major banks charge 1-1.5% for cash withdraw - for bigger amounts starting 50.000 USD you can get a FX deal and they offer you better rate.

Just deposit EUR to one of our inhouse recommendations - make FX at 0.5% for all major currencies and withdraw again.

We do this mainly for CAD, AUD, NZD and EUR payments to go then either in AED or USD.