FAB vs Emirates NBD vs ADCB: Credit Cards Compared 2026

The three banks, side by side

First Abu Dhabi Bank is the country’s largest bank by assets, strongest in Abu Dhabi, and is the home of the SHARE Points programme and the Etihad Guest partnership. Emirates NBD is Dubai’s largest bank and holds the Emirates Skywards partnership, which is why its travel cards dominate any Emirates-flyer conversation. ADCB is strongest in Abu Dhabi and is the most active of the three on co-branded cards — Talabat, Lulu, Shukran — alongside its 365 Cashback and TouchPoints lines.

The table below is the whole comparison in one place. Every cell is read directly from our UAE credit-card catalogue rather than typed here, so it changes the day a bank changes its terms.

Cashback Cards Comparison

Read the table above and the three cashback cards separate cleanly, but not on the headline rate — all three top out at broadly the same place. They separate on what the top rate applies to, and on what happens when you miss the spend gate.

FAB Cashback pays its top rate on groceries and dining, the two categories most households spend most on, and it has the lowest spend gate of the three. Its catch is the hardest one: miss the gate and the bonus rate is not reduced, it is lost.

Emirates NBD Duo spreads its top rate across four categories — groceries, utilities, education and fuel — which is the widest bonus footprint here, and it charges no annual fee. Two things narrow it. Its reward cap is half of the other two, and it is exclusive to Abu Dhabi residents, which rules it out for most of the country regardless of how good the rate is.

ADCB 365’s top rate is on fuel, not dining. Dining and groceries sit a tier below it. What ADCB does have is the joint-highest reward cap and the softest floor — miss the spend gate and you still earn, rather than earning nothing.

Travel Cards Comparison

The three travel cards are not really competing for the same person, and the table makes that obvious once the earn rates are put in the same units.

FAB Etihad Guest Infinite has the highest earn on flight spend of the three and the only genuinely unconditional unlimited lounge access here. It is also the most expensive card in the comparison by a wide margin, and it earns in Etihad Guest Miles — worth having if you fly Etihad, close to worthless if you don’t.

Emirates NBD Skywards Infinite earns in Skywards Miles at a lower rate per dirham than the FAB card, and its unlimited lounge access carries conditions rather than being unconditional. It is still the obvious pick for a frequent Emirates flyer, because the miles land in the programme they actually redeem from — a lower earn rate in the right currency beats a higher one in the wrong currency.

ADCB Traveller is the outlier and, for a lot of people, the sensible one. It pays cashback rather than miles, so there is no airline lock-in, and it is the only card here with no foreign-currency markup at all — which on international spend is often worth more than the difference in earn rates. Its 10% is not a portal-only rate: ADCB publishes it on airline tickets and hotel stays generally, subject to its own monthly cap and minimum spend. Its lounge grant is a fixed annual count rather than unlimited.

Points Programs Comparison

FAB Share Points

FAB’s SHARE Points programme earns points worth AED 0.10 each — comfortably the most valuable point of the three banks. The rate, however, is merchant-bound rather than category-wide: up to ~4% at Carrefour, Mall of the Emirates and City Centres on the free SHARE Platinum, and up to ~6% on the SHARE Signature. General UAE spend earns roughly 0.75–1%, and the reduced bucket (utilities, fuel, other supermarkets, government, education) earns about 0.15%. Points are redeemed at those same Majid Al Futtaim properties, so the programme is a genuine standout for people who already shop there and unremarkable for everyone else.

The SHARE tiers run from the free Platinum through the Signature (AED 500) to the Infinite (AED 1,000), with the monthly reward cap rising with the tier.

ENBD Rewards Points

Emirates NBD’s Plus Points are its flexible currency — redeemable for cash, vouchers and partner transfers rather than tied to one merchant group. On the Duo card in the table above they are valued at AED 1.00 per Plus Point, which is what makes its published rate directly comparable to a cashback rate.

ADCB TouchPoints

ADCB TouchPoints are worth AED 0.005 each — ADCB’s own published valuation on the TouchPoints Infinite card is 200,000 TouchPoints for AED 1,000, which is the same number. So 50,000 TouchPoints redeem for AED 250.

The earning side is where the programme is weakest, and it is routinely misreported. The headline “up to 1.5 TouchPoints per AED 1” is the general retail rate on the Infinite card, not a bonus-category rate. Supermarkets, insurance, auto and quick-service restaurants earn 0.4 TouchPoints per AED 1; fuel, education, government, telecom and transport earn 0.2. At AED 0.005 a point, the reduced categories are worth a fraction of a percent.

Points Winner: FAB SHARE Points — strong merchant-bound earning (up to ~4-6% at Carrefour, Mall of the Emirates and City Centres) with points worth AED 0.10 each, twenty times a TouchPoint. The caveat matters as much as the headline: SHARE points earn at that rate only at those merchants and redeem only there, so the programme is excellent if you already shop at Majid Al Futtaim properties and ordinary if you don’t.

Why the headline rate is the wrong thing to compare

Every one of these cards publishes a rate that almost nobody actually earns on all of their spending, and the reason is in the three columns of the table that people skip: the spend gate, the cap, and the category list.

A rate is only live above the card’s minimum monthly spend. Below it, FAB’s bonus rate disappears entirely, while Emirates NBD and ADCB drop you to a reduced rate instead. That single difference matters more than a percentage point on the headline.

A cap turns a rate into a ceiling. Once a card’s monthly reward cap is reached, every further dirham on it earns nothing — which is why a card with a lower rate and a higher cap can beat a higher rate that saturates in the first week of the month. Emirates NBD Duo’s cap is half of the other two, so it hits that ceiling on half the spend.

And a rate only applies to the categories the issuer lists. Dining is a bonus category on the FAB card and not on the Emirates NBD one; fuel is ADCB’s top category and one of FAB’s worst, because FAB puts fuel in its reduced-rate bucket. Two cards can both advertise the same headline number and pay you wildly different amounts on identical spending.

This is exactly the arithmetic our Card Stack Builder does. It applies each card’s real gate, cap and category list to the spending you actually enter — and, because most people do better holding two or three cards than one, it works out the best combination rather than picking a single winner.

Which Bank Should You Choose?

The best bank depends on your spending pattern:

• Choose FAB if: groceries and dining are your two biggest categories, you want the strongest points programme of the three (SHARE Points at AED 0.10 each, if you shop at Carrefour / Mall of the Emirates / City Centres), or you fly Etihad. FAB also has the lowest spend gate on its cashback card.
• Choose Emirates NBD if: you fly Emirates, or your spending is concentrated in utilities, education and fuel. Duo is the only no-annual-fee card of the three — but it is Abu Dhabi residents only, so check that first.
• Choose ADCB if: you want cashback rather than points, fuel is a big line in your budget, or you spend internationally — the ADCB Traveller is the only card here with no foreign-currency markup, and ADCB is the most active of the three on co-branded cards (Talabat, Lulu, Shukran).

The Verdict: Overall Winner

• Best for everyday cashback — FAB. Its top rate lands on groceries and dining, the two categories most UAE households spend the most on, at the lowest spend gate of the three. Watch the per-category cap and the all-or-nothing gate.
• Best for Emirates flyers — Emirates NBD. The Skywards Infinite earns fewer miles per dirham than FAB’s Etihad card, but it earns them in the programme Emirates flyers actually redeem from, and adds unlimited lounge access (conditions apply).
• Best for international spend — ADCB. The Traveller is the only card in this comparison with no foreign-currency markup at all, and it pays cashback rather than tying you to one airline.
• Best points programme — FAB. SHARE Points are worth AED 0.10 each against a TouchPoint’s AED 0.005 — twenty times the value. The earn rate is merchant-bound to Carrefour, Mall of the Emirates and City Centres, so it is only “best” if that is where you shop.
• Most co-branded choice — ADCB. Talabat, Lulu and Shukran cards give ADCB the widest co-branded range of the three.

Final Recommendation: There’s no single “best” bank — each excels in different areas, and the table above shows how differently they’re built. For most people the answer is not one bank at all: using cards from two or three banks (card stacking) beats optimising a single issuer. Use our Card Stack Builder to find your optimal combination.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which bank has the best credit cards overall?

It depends on your spending. FAB's cashback card puts its top rate on groceries and dining at the lowest spend gate of the three; Emirates NBD is the pick for Emirates flyers; ADCB's Traveller is the only card of the three with no foreign-currency markup. The comparison table on this page sets all three out side by side. For most people, using cards from multiple banks (card stacking) provides the best overall value.

Can I have credit cards from multiple banks?

Yes! In fact, using cards from multiple banks strategically (called "card stacking") can maximize your rewards — because each card's top rate only applies to the categories its issuer lists, and only up to that card's monthly cap. One card almost never covers every category efficiently. Our Card Stack Builder works out the combination for your actual spending.

Which bank has the lowest fees?

All three banks offer cards with no annual fee — Emirates NBD Duo and FAB's SHARE cards among them, plus ADCB's Talabat card. For paid cards, fees in this comparison run from AED 300 to AED 2,500 depending on the tier. Compare the net value (rewards minus fees) rather than just the fee amount, and check whether a "first year free" offer is a permanent waiver or only a welcome offer.

Is ADCB TouchPoints program worth it?

TouchPoints are worth AED 0.005 each — ADCB's own published valuation is 200,000 TouchPoints for AED 1,000, so 50,000 TouchPoints redeem for AED 250. The bigger issue is the earn rate: the headline "up to 1.5 TouchPoints per AED 1" is the general retail rate, while supermarkets earn 0.4 and fuel, education and telecom earn 0.2 per AED 1. We generally recommend ADCB's cashback cards (365 Cashback, Talabat) over the TouchPoints tiers.

Which bank is best for Emirates frequent flyers?

Emirates NBD's Skywards Infinite is the clear winner for Emirates frequent flyers. It earns 2 Skywards Miles per USD on Emirates spend, adds unlimited Visa Airport Companion lounge access (subject to a minimum monthly spend) and complimentary Skywards Silver tier. The AED 1,575 annual fee is easily justified if you fly Emirates often and use the lounge access.

How do I compare cards from different banks?

Use our Credit Card Stack Builder tool. Enter your spending across all categories, and it will calculate your exact annual rewards for cards from all three banks (and others), showing you which bank's cards offer the best net value for your specific spending pattern.

Compare All Three Banks’ Cards

Don’t guess which bank is best for you. Our Card Stack Builder includes cards from FAB, ENBD, ADCB, and all other UAE banks, calculating your exact rewards to show you the best combination.

Compare All Banks

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