Strategic Salary Benchmarks: UAE Financial Sector

Emirates Palace - Abu Dhabi

The UAE market is accustomed to refer to salaries as monthly and denominated in the local currency.

The national currency here is The United Arab Emirates Dirham.

The acronym is AED. Unofficial abbreviations include Dh and Dhs.

The dirham is pegged to the United States dollar at a rate of 1 USD to 3.6725 AED.

The currency is divided into 100 smaller units called fils. There are coin denominations of 1, 5, and 10 fils, as well as banknotes in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, and 1000 dirhams.

Role Annual Salary Band (USD) Average Annual Salary (USD)

CFO (Level 2) $650,000 - $800,000 $725,000

CFO (Level 1) $550,000 - $700,000 $625,000

Head of Private Banking/Wealth Management

$486,000 - $607,000 $546,500

Market Head/Managing Director

$428,000 - $499,000 $463,500

Chief Compliance Officer (CCO)

$333,000 - $408,000 $370,500

Managing Director Investment Banking

$323,000 - $512,000 $417,500

Chief Risk Officer

$267,000 - $428,000 $347,500

Associate Director

$231,000 - $285,000 $258,000

Head of Compliance

$227,000 - $285,000 $256,000

Product Development Manager

$170,000 - $290,000 $230,000

Product Manager

$150,000 - $250,000 $200,000

Vice President Investment Banking

$143,000 - $238,000 $190,500

Actuarial Consultant

$130,000 - $190,000 $160,000

Relationship Manager

$123,000 - $159,000 $141,000

Credit Risk Manager

$110,000 - $172,000 $141,000

Senior Analyst Investment Banking

$52,000 - $88,000 $70,000

compiled from 2025 data