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Sarwa Helps UAE Residents Easily Invest In Global Stocks
Sarwa, the UAE-based online investment platform that is democratizing investing in the region, allows anyone to invest small amounts of money in global markets making investing simple and affordable for all investors in the Middle East.
Thanks to modern technology, lucrative investment opportunities are no longer available only to individuals with traditional access to stock markets. These days, there are many apps that let inexperienced and seasoned investors alike sit on a couch and invest their hard-earned money using nothing but a smartphone, and Sarwa is one of them.
The investment platform launched in February 2018 after raising over $1.3 million from regional and global investors during a pre-Series A. “We’re so excited to close this round with the top VCs regionally and internationally that are backing Sarwa in its growth,” said Mark Chahwan, CEO and co-founder of Sarwa, at the time.
Sarwa Founders
Fast-forward to today, and Sarwa has over 25,000 registered users, who use it to invest in international stock markets through a range of class assets. Sarwa caters to everyone regardless of their net worth: the platform has high net worth individuals, mass affluent as well as small retail investors. The same users will soon be able to trade with global shares without paying any commission on their trades.
What separates Sarwa from other investment platforms that are licensed to operate in UAE, such as Wealthface or Stashaway, is its AI-driven hybrid nature and exceptional customer support. The app platform uses artificial intelligence to recommend a specific investment portfolio based on each investor’s preferences and investment priorities while also providing their client base with access to humans when needed.
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“When you start investing with Sarwa, we assess your risk profile and recommend a diversified portfolio that reflects it,” explains Chahwan. “If you are a short-term investor, then your portfolio will inherently be less risky. If you are in a portfolio that has more exposure to stocks, which is considered more growth and more risk, then you are in it for the long-term and the short-term (even if it is a couple of years) won’t have an impact on your long-term strategy.”
In its beta form, access to global stock trading will be provided exclusively to Sarwa Invest customers, but other Sarwa users can enter a waiting list to join when the full product is launched.
News
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.
Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.
The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.
Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc
— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026
“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.
Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.
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The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.
Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.
Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon
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