In general, the opening hours of Islamic banks in the United Arab Emirates are from 08:00 to 13:00, while opening days are from Saturday to Wednesday with a reduction on Thursdays (08:00-12:00). Some banks also offer afternoon opening hours from 16:30 to 18:30 or even continuous opening during the day, in cases in which customer windows are situated in ad hoc locations, as for example in large trade fair and congress centres. Friday is always a day of closure in all locations.
In a country which sees such a high concentration of International visitors and therefore a high influx of foreign currencies, the exchange sector plays a particularly important role in the financial world of the Arab Emirates. It is worth taking a little extra time to evaluate where to carry out one’s exchange, since no small differences may exist between a bank, a bureau de change and an ATM. Exchange services are available practically everywhere: from banks proper to trade fair and congress centers, from airports to shopping malls, to the streets which are most frequented for commercial reasons, as well, clearly, as electronic service windows. The main thing is to have a clear idea as to current rates, in order to avail of the best offer, since the Emirates are highly competitive also in this sphere, and it is often possible to get much more advantageous rates of exchange if one is prepared to move around a little bit.
Among the places where it is possible to change one’s own for the national currency, the Dirham (abbreviated as AED or Dh.) those which are least economically advantageous are certainly hotel reception desks, where, as almost anywhere in the world, making use of the service without even having to go out has a cost which is not insignificant. It is, however, if need be, extremely useful if one does not have the time to move around or if it is at a time when not even the most workaholic bureau de change can still be open. Compared to the banks, in any event, it is also true that the exchange bureaus have much longer opening hours. In shopping malls and in the most crowded areas, they stay open until 22.00 or 23.00 hrs., while where there is an event taking place which goes on after midnight, they extend their opening times, answering to the needs of the occasion. In airports, on the other hand, they are open 24 hours a day.
It is worth adding that during the sacred month of Ramadan working hours and activities in general and also those of banks and financial institutes are reduced considerably, both in terms of opening times to the public and in the volume of transactions effected. Lastly, it should be remembered that some Muslim countries have recently opted for a change in holiday days, choosing to consider Thursday as a full working day and shifting the weekend to Friday and Saturday, rather than from Thursday and Friday, as had been the case before. The reasons for this change are purely economic, since transactions with non muslim countries were reduced to just three days a week (that is, from Monday to Wednesday), while the other four days were made impossible first of all by the two muslim holidays and then for the other two by non muslim countries. This had led to such losses in financial terms that the authorities in some countries (which one presumes, will be followed by others) were induced to opt for the above mentioned solution, which offers the advantage of four full working days, with a conspicuous difference in terms of transaction volume.