Sharjah Media City (Shams) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Wio Bank to provide entrepreneurs, startups and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UAE with access to digital banking services.

The agreement will give businesses in the Shams community access to services covering account opening, payments, collections, invoicing, payroll, expense management, multi-currency accounts and financing.

Digital banking services

Under the agreement, Shams and Wio Business, the bank’s business banking platform, will work together to make digital banking services available to businesses operating within the Shams community.

Wio Business allows companies to open business accounts digitally and begin operating within three business days, subject to the bank’s verification procedures and other requirements, a WAM report said.

Read more: UAE Central Bank raises Base Rate to 3.9% after Fed hike

The platform also provides multi-user access and role-based permissions, allowing businesses to assign financial and administrative responsibilities among employees.

The agreement comes as startups and SMEs increasingly use digital platforms to manage routine financial functions, including payments, payroll and invoicing.

Focus on business operations

Rashid Sahoo, Director of Operations at Sharjah Media City (Shams), said the partnership would extend Shams’ support for entrepreneurs beyond the initial business setup stage.

“Our partnership with Wio Bank marks another important step in Shams’ efforts to deliver an integrated experience for entrepreneurs, extending beyond business set-up to provide the tools and solutions they need to manage and grow their ventures,” Sahoo said.

“Through our collaboration with Wio Business, we aim to simplify access to digital banking services and empower the Shams community to manage their financial needs more efficiently and flexibly, supporting the ambitions of startups and SMEs across the UAE,” he added.

Prateek Vahie, chief commercial officer at Wio Bank, said the bank’s focus would be on reducing the administrative burden associated with business banking.

“We’re grateful for the trust Shams has placed in us to support its entrepreneurs. Our role is simple: ensure banking is one less thing founders have to worry about, from fast account opening to managing payments, payroll and invoicing as they grow,” Vahie said.

Partnership expands Shams business support

The MoU adds banking services to the range of support available to businesses within the Shams community.

Shams has previously pursued partnerships aimed at providing businesses with services related to establishing and operating companies. The latest agreement links those services with digital banking tools that businesses can use for day-to-day financial management.

For Wio Bank, the partnership expands access to its Wio Business platform among entrepreneurs and SMEs operating through Shams.

The companies did not disclose financial terms of the agreement.

The partnership comes as Sharjah continues to develop its startup and creative-industry ecosystem, with SMEs and entrepreneurs forming a significant part of the UAE’s broader private-sector economy.

The UAE has ranked first in a new global tax optimisation index for internationally mobile individuals, helped by the absence of personal income, wealth and inheritance taxes and a relatively low consumption tax, according to research published by Global Citizen Solutions.

The UAE scored 82.7 out of 100 in the 48-jurisdiction index, ahead of Antigua and Barbuda at 82.2, Paraguay at 77.2, Hong Kong at 76.9 and the Bahamas at 76.2, according to the policy briefing published by the advisory firm’s Global Intelligence Unit.

The study, Tax Optimization for Global Citizens: Comparing 48 Jurisdictions for Internationally Mobile Individuals, assessed countries and territories across 11 indicators grouped into three categories: tax burden, tax structure and investment migration.

Tax Burden and Tax Structure each account for 42.5 per cent of the overall score, while Investment Migration carries a 15 per cent weighting. The researchers said the methodology was designed to capture not only headline tax rates but also how foreign income, capital gains, wealth, inheritance and departure from a jurisdiction are treated.

The full methodology and 48-jurisdiction ranking are available in the Global Citizen Solutions study.

Where UAE tops scores

The UAE recorded a perfect score of 100 for Tax Burden, 64 for Tax Structure and 86 for Investment Migration.

Global Citizen Solutions said the UAE led the overall index because it combined no personal income tax with no net wealth or inheritance tax, a 5 per cent consumption tax and no exit charge.

Antigua and Barbuda and the Bahamas also received perfect Tax Burden scores.

Structure matters as much as tax rates

The report’s broader finding was that low headline tax rates alone did not determine where jurisdictions placed. Uruguay, for example, has a personal income tax rate of as much as 36 per cent but ranked 12th overall and recorded the strongest Tax Structure score in the sample, at 88.

Its strength in the index came from its predominantly territorial approach to taxation and provisions available to new residents, although certain foreign-source capital income can be taxable under rules introduced in 2026.

Hungary provided the opposite case. Despite a headline rate of 15 per cent, it ranked 31st because residents are generally taxed on worldwide income and the country offers fewer substantial tax benefits to new arrivals, the report said.

The study identified two principal routes to a favourable tax structure score.

The first involves territorial or remittance-based taxation, where foreign income is either outside the tax net entirely or taxed only when brought into the country. Uruguay, Panama, Paraguay, Malaysia and Hong Kong were among jurisdictions using territorial systems, while Malta and Mauritius use forms of remittance taxation.

The second involves preferential regimes layered over systems that would otherwise tax worldwide income. Cyprus, Portugal, Italy, Ireland and Greece were among jurisdictions using such structures.

Malta ranked sixth overall despite a headline personal income tax rate of 35 per cent, while Cyprus placed 10th and Portugal 23rd.

The report cautioned that preferential schemes can be less durable than territorial tax systems because they may be time-limited, subject to eligibility requirements or changed by governments.

Tax advantages versus quality of life

The study also examined the relationship between tax advantages and living conditions, comparing its tax ranking with the ‘Quality of Life’ pillar of Global Citizen Solutions’ Global Passport Index 2026.

It found a broad trade-off, with jurisdictions offering the strongest tax positions often ranking lower on quality-of-life measures.

Seven jurisdictions bucked that pattern, placing in the upper half of the tax index while also ranking among the world’s top 50 for quality of life: Malta, Cyprus, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Mauritius, Switzerland and Portugal.

None achieved that position through a zero-income-tax model. Instead, they used territorial, remittance-based or preferential tax structures that reduced the tax burden on internationally mobile residents while maintaining broader tax revenues.

Exit and inheritance taxes widen the gap

Departure taxation was another major differentiator. Of the 48 jurisdictions assessed, 31 impose no exit tax, while 17 apply some form of charge when tax residence ends.

Eleven, including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Norway, Spain, France and Switzerland, apply broader exit-tax arrangements with deferral mechanisms, while Portugal, the UK, the Netherlands, Japan and Sweden use narrower forms.

Inheritance tax produced an even sharper divide.

None of the top 13 jurisdictions in the overall index levies inheritance tax, according to the study, while several lower-ranked jurisdictions impose maximum rates above 40 per cent.

Germany finished last in the overall ranking with a score of 28.7, behind Denmark at 30.4 and the United States at 33.5.

The report said jurisdictions at the lower end of the ranking tended to combine worldwide taxation with capital gains, inheritance and departure taxes.

Global Citizen Solutions stressed that the ranking was intended as a comparison tool rather than a guide to a single destination suitable for every internationally mobile individual. Entrepreneurs approaching a company sale or other liquidity event may place greater weight on capital gains and exit taxes, while retirees may focus more heavily on inheritance rules, healthcare and consumption taxes. Remote professionals, meanwhile, can be particularly affected by how a jurisdiction treats foreign-sourced income.

The briefing also noted limitations in its methodology, including the exclusion of social security contributions, tax treaty coverage and the long-term stability of individual tax regimes.

The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) has raised its Base Rate by 25 basis points, from 3.65 per cent to 3.9 per cent, following a similar interest rate increase by the US Federal Reserve.

The new rate, which applies to the Overnight Deposit Facility (ODF), takes effect from Thursday, September 17, WAM reported.

The CBUAE said the decision followed the US Federal Reserve’s move to increase the Interest Rate on Reserve Balances (IORB) by 25 basis points.

The UAE Central Bank will meanwhile maintain the interest rate for borrowing short-term liquidity from the CBUAE at 50 basis points above the Base Rate across all standing credit facilities.

The Base Rate is anchored to the US Federal Reserve’s IORB and signals the general stance of monetary policy in the UAE. It also provides an effective floor for overnight money market interest rates in the country.

The UAE dirham’s peg to the US dollar means the CBUAE’s monetary policy framework is closely linked to US interest rate movements.

The US Federal Reserve has raised interest rates for the first time in more than three years, increasing its benchmark rate by 25 basis points as policymakers seek to bring stubborn inflation back towards the central bank’s 2 per cent target.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) voted unanimously on Wednesday to increase the target range for the federal funds rate by a quarter percentage point to 3.75-4 per cent. The Fed said inflation “remains elevated”, while economic activity continues to expand at a solid pace.

The September 16 move represents the Fed’s first rate increase since July 2023, reversing the easing cycle that had brought borrowing costs down from their previous highs. The central bank said the latest increase would support a “timelier return” of inflation to its 2 per cent goal.

The decision comes amid renewed inflationary pressure, including higher energy costs linked to the Middle East conflict. Fed officials also signalled that further tightening could follow, with their latest projections showing a median federal funds rate of 4.1 per cent at the end of 2026, compared with 3.8 per cent projected in June.

The Fed now expects US personal consumption expenditures (PCE) inflation to stand at 3.7 per cent in 2026, slightly higher than its June projection of 3.6 per cent. Core PCE inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, is projected at 3.4 per cent. Meanwhile, US GDP is forecast to grow 2.3 per cent this year, with unemployment at 4.1 per cent.

According to Reuters, financial markets reacted negatively to the decision and the prospect of additional increases. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.21 per cent on Wednesday, while the S&P 500 declined 0.45 per cent. US Treasury yields rose and the dollar strengthened as investors adjusted expectations for the path of monetary policy.

The impact is also feeding through to borrowing costs. Major US banks raised their prime lending rates following the Fed’s decision, increasing financing costs for businesses and consumers with loans linked to the benchmark.