News

Sarwa Launches High-Yield Cash Accounts In The Sarwa App

The account will offer nearly 4x the interest of regular UAE savings accounts, and deep integration with the Sarwa investing platform.

Published

4 years ago

February 10, 2023

Nour Nasir

Sarwa

Sarwa, a popular UAE investing platform and app, has launched a new feature known as Sarwa Save. The latest offering is a high-yield cash saving account with several exciting features, the foremost of which is a very respectable 3% interest rate. The idea behind the account is that it will serve as a parking place for cash earned while investing and comes with zero transfer costs for AED local accounts, no account minimums, no management fees, plus fast online setup through the app.

“While we are strong believers in long-term passive investing, we are also conscious of how market conditions might affect short/medium-term goals. A short-term investing option is an important part of a good financial plan. Our clients were asking for a product to park their cash while earning returns, with the same easy access and simple experience as their Sarwa Invest, Sarwa Trade, and Sarwa Crypto accounts. As always, we listened to our community and decided to launch our fourth pillar,” says Mark Chahwan, Co-founder and CEO of Sarwa.

Sarwa’s 100,000 active users will now find it easier than ever to centralize the entire investment process in a single app, whether they’re taking a hands-off, long-term approach or prefer the convenience of self-directed trading using a single service. It’s also worth noting that Sarwa offers Save Halal, a low-risk money market funds portfolio, which also projects a return of 3%.

Overview of Sarwa Save features:

3% interest rate.
Easy online setup and access to real human support.
Zero withdrawal fees. No lock-in period.
No account minimums.
No management fees.
No transfer costs for AED local accounts.
Deep integration with Sarwa Invest accounts.
Partition and label funds to enhance saving.

Sarwa Save looks like a promising financial product, especially as the average yield on a UAE savings account currently stands at around 0.8%.

Interested in setting up an account? Sarwa Save is available to new and existing users through the Sarwa website and mobile app.

Disclaimer: Sarwa Save is a product offered through Sarwa Digital Wealth (Capital) Limited that is regulated by the FSRA in the ADGM. This offering is not regulated by the DFSA. Sarwa is not a bank. We can unlock high-yield accounts through our banking partners.

News

Microsoft Plans $10 Billion-Plus Gulf Expansion Despite Iran Conflict

Security is shaping Microsoft’s approach, from resilience work with governments to what it will say about how the money splits by country.

Published

4 days ago

September 24, 2026

Nour Nasir

Microsoft

Microsoft is planning more than $10 billion of investment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters, calling the spending schedule aggressive. The Iranian conflict that began on February 28 has not persuaded the company to scale back.

“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we are in fact adding to them,” Smith said. The $10 billion-plus total does not, however, show how large those additions are.

The investment, which Smith described as part of Microsoft’s continued infrastructure expansion, is aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure and at the company’s growing regional operations. Microsoft also intends to put more than $400 million into subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.

The spending fits the region’s own ambitions too. Gulf governments have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure as part of a push to diversify their economies beyond oil and gas and turn themselves into global technology hubs. Major cloud and AI providers have been drawn in part by the land and relatively low-cost energy on offer.

Microsoft is widening its partnerships with regional AI companies, though not on identical terms. In 2024, it invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based G42 for a minority stake, and Smith currently sits on G42’s board. Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai are working with Microsoft on selected priority areas, but Smith said the company does not plan to make capital investments in either.

Also Read: Egypt’s Mobile Wallets Are Booming, But Cash Still Has Power

The conflict has added another strand to Microsoft’s work in the region. Since it began, Smith said, the company has supported regional partners with digital resilience assessments, and it is now working with Gulf countries through a digital resilience initiative focused on preparedness and the protection of critical data.

So far, the company has given no country-by-country breakdown of the investment, citing security among other factors. So while the headline figure is public, how Microsoft divides the spending among the four countries is not.