Al Ansari Exchange reported a more than 151 per cent increase in the number of companies processing salaries through its Wage Protection System (WPS) platform on June 1, as UAE businesses adjusted payroll operations to comply with new nationwide salary payment regulations.

The spike in activity coincided with the implementation of Ministerial Resolution No. 340 of 2026, which requires all private sector establishments registered with the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation (MoHRE) to pay employee salaries through the Wage Protection System by the first day of each month.

The Wage Protection System, jointly overseen by MoHRE and the Central Bank of the UAE, is designed to ensure timely wage payments, strengthen regulatory compliance and improve transparency across the labour market.

According to Al Ansari Exchange, employer activity on its WPS platform more than doubled on the first day the new requirements took effect, reflecting the broader market response as businesses moved to align payroll processes with the updated framework.

The company said the increase highlights the growing importance of the Wage Protection System in supporting wage protection, compliance and operational efficiency, while also reflecting the increasing adoption of digital payroll solutions across the UAE.

Ali Al Najjar, chief executive officer of Al Ansari Exchange, said: “The implementation of the Ministerial Resolution represents an important step in advancing the UAE’s labour market ecosystem and reinforcing the principles of transparency, accountability and employee protection. As employers adapt to the updated requirements, access to efficient and reliable payroll solutions becomes increasingly important. Al Ansari Exchange remains committed to supporting businesses across the UAE through continued investment in digital innovation and payment technologies that facilitate compliance and contribute to a more efficient payroll environment.”

The introduction of the revised WPS requirements forms part of the UAE’s wider efforts to strengthen labour market governance, improve employer compliance and safeguard employee rights.

By standardising salary payment timelines across the private sector, the framework aims to enhance consistency in wage disbursement practices while supporting the country’s broader objectives of fostering a competitive and sustainable business environment.

Al Ansari Exchange said it will continue investing in its Wage Protection System infrastructure and digital payroll capabilities to help employers meet regulatory requirements and manage workforce payments more efficiently.

McDonald’s UAE has operated in the country since 1994 and today runs more than 200 restaurants across the Emirates. In 2024, it welcomed over 62 million guests and delivered more than 14 million meals to homes and businesses. The scale of its wider contribution is set out in the company’s new socio-economic report, produced with Oxford Economics: operations, supply-chain spending, and employee wages contributed Dhs2.32bn to GDP, sustained more than 13,100 jobs, and supported tax revenues equivalent to Dhs1 in every Dhs1,350 of non-oil government income.

That broader impact is the focus of the brand‘s latest campaign, ‘The Good You Don’t Order’, which highlights the local sourcing, employment, and community work behind each meal.

In this interview, CEO Walid Fakih discusses a demanding 2025 that still delivered growth, including a 30 per cent rise in app transactions and a third consecutive year of zero food-safety audit failures.

Fakih also talks about investing in a 7,000-strong workforce that is 41 per cent women, the thinking behind the campaign, and his priorities and challenges for McDonald’s UAE in 2026.

Last year was a demanding one for consumer brands. How did McDonald’s UAE perform across growth and operations, and what were the key factors that shaped that outcome?

We delivered a strong year of growth in 2025, reaching new milestones across the business and enhancing the customer experience at every touchpoint. By maintaining operational excellence, we ensured every interaction, whether in-restaurant, through delivery, or at the drive-thru, met the high standards our customers expect. For the third consecutive year, our teams achieved zero failures in third-party food safety audits, reflecting the consistency and reliability that define the McDonald’s UAE experience.

As convenience and digital engagement become part of everyday life in the UAE, we expanded our McDonald’s App offerings, driving more than a 30 per cent increase in transactions. This shows how customers are embracing new ways to interact with us, from loyalty rewards to seamless ordering.

We also continued to invest in our people, delivering over 240 training classes, seminars, and workshops, graduating more than 4,000 employees and strengthening our pipeline of future leaders.

Together, these investments in quality, innovation, and talent have allowed us to deliver consistent value to customers, while supporting sustainable growth across the UAE.

Tell us about the latest Economic Impact Report. What does it reveal about McDonald’s UAE’s contribution to the economy, particularly around jobs, local sourcing, and broader value creation?

This is our first socio-economic report, developed with Oxford Economics, and it truly highlights the scale of our contribution to the UAE economy.

In 2024, our operations, supply chain spending, and employee wages contributed Dhs2.32bn to GDP. For every Dhs1m generated directly, a further Dhs2.7m was supported across the wider economy, while our activities sustained tax revenues equivalent to Dhs1 in every Dhs1,350 of non-oil government revenue.

The report also shows that McDonald’s UAE is a significant employment engine across the emirates, supporting more than 13,100 jobs. Beyond economic contribution, our commitment to sustainability and community impact remains central.

For 15 years, we have been recycling our used cooking oil into biodiesel, and in 2024, we reduced emissions by 2.8 million kg of CO₂e. We also donated 1,000 meals during the UAE floods, contributed over Dhs2.7m to national relief and social initiatives, and invested Dhs1.6m in our Junior Padel Academy, enabling more than 1,200 children to learn new skills.

‘The Good You Don’t Order’ puts the spotlight on impact rather than products. Why was now the right time for this message, and how does it reflect how McDonald’s UAE thinks about responsibility today?

‘The Good You Don’t Order’ was inspired by the simple truth that there’s more to McDonald’s UAE than what appears on the tray. Every day, our customers’ choices make good happen behind the scenes, supporting local suppliers, empowering employees, advancing sustainability, and giving back to the community. We wanted to celebrate that connection and show that responsibility isn’t a single initiative; it’s embedded in how we operate every day.

We’re a locally owned business that has been operating for over three decades, and we’ve been creating impact long before this campaign. Now, we are shining a light on the positive, behind-the-scenes actions that have been happening for years, showing that with every meal, our customers play an essential role in driving lasting impact.

With more than 7,000 employees in the UAE, how are you investing in people, from skills development to wellbeing, to future-proof the business?

Our people are at the heart of McDonald’s UAE’s success, and investing in them is central to future-proofing the business. While over 7,000 employees work directly within the company, our 2024 Economic Impact Report highlighted that we supported more than 13,100 jobs across restaurants and the wider supply chain.

Women make up 41 per cent of employees, 17 percentage points above the national average, and 22 per cent of our workforce are aged 18–24, reflecting our focus on inclusion, diversity, and early-career development. This commitment is exemplified by our fully female-staffed restaurant in Umm Suqeim, Dubai.

We invest in our people through structured training, clear progression pathways, and programs that build transferable skills, ensuring employees grow alongside the business. Our ‘Making a Life and Loving It’ campaign perfectly showcased the power of this, celebrating stories such as Anoop Kumar’s, who progressed from delivery rider to restaurant manager.

Recognising the pride, teamwork, and story behind every order, we allowed our employees to become the face of our ‘The Good You Don’t Order’ campaign.

What are your top strategic priorities, and where do you see the biggest opportunities and pressure points for McDonald’s UAE as consumer expectations continue to evolve?

For the remainder of 2026, our priorities are centred on sustainable growth, relevance, and consistently delivering value to our customers across the UAE. As expectations continue to evolve, staying closely connected to what matters most, quality, trust, and consistency, will guide our approach.

A key opportunity lies in expanding our restaurant footprint, ensuring we remain accessible to more communities while continuously enhancing the in-restaurant experience. At the same time, delivering strong value remains a core focus, as customers expect great food and reliable experiences every day.

Maintaining the highest food safety and quality standards will remain fundamental to everything we do. By investing in our people, operations, and restaurants, we aim to drive responsible growth while continuing to earn our customers’ trust throughout 2026 and beyond.

Global private investment firm Ardian and its portfolio company Verne plan to develop a next-generation digital infrastructure campus in France’s Île-de-France region, aiming to strengthen Europe’s artificial intelligence and high-performance computing capabilities.

The project, announced at the Choose France conference, represents an investment of up to EUR5bn ($5.7bn) and is designed to support Europe’s ambitions for digital and industrial sovereignty through low-carbon computing infrastructure.

The campus will be developed within one of France’s largest industrial hubs and is expected to reach a target capacity of 500 megawatts (MW), including an initial phase of more than 200 MW by 2030.

Ardian and Verne said the facility will house a data centre dedicated to high-performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence model training and advanced industrial applications.

The project will rely on France’s energy infrastructure and low-carbon electricity supply, developed in collaboration with grid operator RTE and EDF Group.

The hub will also form part of the sites supporting the AION consortium’s bid for a French Gigafactory under the European Union’s AI Gigafactories initiative.

The companies said the campus is intended to support the full AI value chain, spanning computing resources and applications across sectors including research, healthcare, finance and energy.

Verne, which operates low-carbon data centres in Northern Europe, will design and operate the facility, drawing on its expertise in high-performance computing infrastructure.

The development will be undertaken in collaboration with government agencies, regional authorities, local public entities and major French industrial and financial groups, including Bouygues Group and Crédit Agricole.

Ardian and Verne also plan to engage technology, industrial and academic partners as the project advances.

The companies said the campus is intended to create an ecosystem bringing together infrastructure operators, energy providers, technology firms, research centres and higher education institutions, while generating hundreds of direct and indirect jobs across construction and operations.

Part of broader infrastructure strategy

The announcement forms part of Ardian’s broader infrastructure strategy focused on sectors including digital infrastructure, energy and transport.

Through other French platforms in its portfolio, including Akuo and GreenYellow, Ardian said it is separately investing up to EUR3bn in French energy infrastructure, representing 2.5 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity expected to be connected to the grid by 2030.

“Ardian‘s strategy of investing in both essential digital and energy infrastructure is aligned with the European needs to strengthen its strategic capabilities and accelerate its progress toward digital sovereignty,” said Mathias Burghardt, executive president of Ardian and CEO of Ardian France.

“By bringing together our industrial and financial knowledge with an ecosystem of leading French industrial partners, our ambition is to build a benchmark platform in the Île-de-France region gathering digital, industrial and research serving Europe,” he added.

Dominic Ward, CEO of Verne, and Roland Chedlivili, MD of Verne France, said the project marked “a strategic milestone” in the company’s development as a European digital infrastructure platform focused on artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.

“It illustrates our ambition to establish infrastructure in France capable of meeting the needs of major European industrial and technology players,” they said. “We are building a competitive and sustainable European AI backbone for our economy.”

The project comes as European governments and businesses seek to expand domestic AI infrastructure and reduce dependence on foreign computing resources amid growing global competition in artificial intelligence.

Yango Group has made its first investment in the Middle East and North Africa region through its venture arm Yango Ventures, backing UAE-based fintech Comfi AI in a pre-series A funding round.

The global technology company said the investment marks its continued focus on startups building digital infrastructure across emerging markets, particularly in fintech, logistics and SME services.

Comfi AI, founded in 2023 and headquartered in Dubai, develops embedded finance tools for small and medium-sized enterprises, including buy now, pay later (BNPL), invoice discounting and dealer financing.

The solutions are integrated into supplier workflows such as invoicing systems and partner platforms, enabling businesses to access financing without separate lending processes.

“Our strategy is to build and support infrastructure that enables business growth across markets,” said Daniil Shuleyko, CEO of Yango Group.

Read: Daniil Shuleyko on how Yango Group is building an operating system for the city

“We do this through our own products and by investing in companies that solve fundamental problems. Comfi AI is one of them: it integrates financing into transaction flows and reduces payment cycles from months to a single day, improving access to working capital. We believe such solutions can scale across a wide range of economies,” he added.

Comfi AI said it serves more than 1,000 small and medium-sized enterprises across the MENA region, has processed over 15,000 invoices and is used by more than 4,000 finance professionals.

Yango Ventures, launched in 2025 with a fund of not more than $20m, invests in early-stage companies across MENA, Africa, Latin America and South Asia, focusing on infrastructure that supports business growth in emerging markets.

The investment in Comfi AI marks the fund’s first entry into the MENA region and adds embedded finance to its portfolio.

The US military said it had “successfully defeated” a wave of Iranian missile and drone attacks targeting Gulf states and civilian shipping overnight, while also carrying out what it described as self-defence strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island.

In a statement on Wednesday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said Iran launched ballistic missiles toward Bahrain and Kuwait, while also deploying drones targeting US forces and commercial vessels in regional waters.

CENTCOM rejected Iranian claims that the headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain had been hit.

“Iran launched several ballistic missiles toward regional neighbours; however, all failed to hit their intended targets,” CENTCOM said.

According to the US military, two missiles fired toward Kuwait either fell short or broke apart during flight, while three missiles aimed at Bahrain were intercepted by US and Bahraini air defence systems.

American forces also shot down three so-called “one-way attack drones” launched toward civilian shipping routes in the Gulf.

Later on Wednesday morning, CENTCOM said an additional wave of Iranian drones targeting US forces in Kuwait had also failed, with multiple drones intercepted before reaching their intended targets.

The US military said it subsequently carried out “self-defence strikes” on an Iranian military ground control station on Qeshm Island, located near the strategically critical Strait of Hormuz.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), meanwhile, claimed it had attacked the US Fifth Fleet headquarters and an airbase in the region using missiles and drones in retaliation for what it described as an earlier US strike on a communications tower south of Qeshm Island.

Iranian state-linked media also reported that the IRGC navy targeted a vessel identified as Panaya with missiles, claiming the move was in response to an alleged US attack on an Iranian tanker near the Strait of Hormuz that reportedly damaged its engine room.

“Disrupting the security of the Strait of Hormuz will carry a heavy price for the US military,” Iranian media quoted the IRGC as saying.