🚸 Wio Family review: kids’ accounts and savings rates in the UAE

We are doing something a little different this week, because there is a new product in the market that is genuinely worth a closer look, especially for parents.

Financial literacy (a core Money Luna pillar) is one of the most neglected areas for children and young people. While there are more teaching resources available to kids, the practical options remain limited, especially in the Middle East.

Wio Bank has just tried to close that gap. Wio Family lets kids aged 8+ manage their own money online, while you remain fully in control.

At the same time, Wio has reduced its savings rates on individual accounts, while keeping Family rates more attractive. We will walk through what has changed and how to keep the best rates.

Read on to find out:

• Key features of Wio Family and how to activate it

• Recent savings rates changes and how to keep yours at 4.5%

• Other banks with market-leading savings rates

• In the news - UAE salary growth cools for 2026

PS: We have no affiliation with Wio for this article and our views are independent as always.

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What is Wio Family?

Wio Family is a new product range from Wio, allowing two adults to create and co-manage family finances in one place. This includes a main joint account, and separate mini-accounts for kids with savings spaces, cards, etc!

This is useful if you want your kids to handle pocket money, savings goals and card payments themselves, without giving up parental control.

Key features we like

• “Pockets” for kids aged 8+, other dependants and household helpers

• Virtual cards for each pocket (but you control spending limits, expiry date, and get to see what they spend on)

• Shared savings spaces earning up to 6% interest (more on this below), so the whole family can work towards common goals

• All family spend earns up to 1% cashback, including your kids’ spending

• Most importantly: the Family leads stay in full control of accounts, Pockets and cards

How to activate

The activation process is simple:

1. Head to the Wio app, and then to “Explore Wio Family”

2. Create the Family and enter the other lead’s phone number

3. The other lead will receive a notification to accept (if they are not a Wio customer yet, they’ll need to go through usual ID checks too).

4. Once that’s processed, you’ll need to accept them into the Family

Keeping it free: We’ve checked with Wio on the requirement to maintain a balance of AED 35,000. This applies across your Family and Individual accounts (alternatively, being a Salary transfer customer also works), to keep the Family account free. Otherwise, it’s AED 49 per month.

What about safety & security?

Family leads: These are the adults who jointly own the account. Either of the leads controls all spending, pockets, cards, who’s a member where, and broader account settings.

Family members: These come with restricted functionality - they can only see their own “Pockets” and can only spend within the limits prescribed by a Family lead.

As long as the Family leads are trusted individuals, adding Family members does not expose the core accounts to any additional risks as access is segregated.

What happened to Wio’s savings rates?

As a result of recent US Fed rate cuts, on Monday (24/11), Wio reduced its interest rates on Plus & Salary accounts largely in line with the new base rate.

However, you can still keep the higher rates by opening a Family account, where rates remain more attractive as an added incentive.

Here is the latest view of Wio rates across all account types**:

Account type / Savings Space type	Standard	Plus	Salary	Family
Flexible	0%	3.25%	3.25%	3.25%
1 month	0%	4%	6%	4.5%*
3 months	0%	4%	4%	4.4%
6 months	0%	4%	4%	4.4%
12 months	0%	4%	4%	4.4%

* If one of the Family leads has a salary account, the 1-month interest rate also defaults to 6%.

** Bear in mind, the website has not been updated yet, so you’ll need to check this in their app to see these new rates.

Other decent savings rates around

While we’re on the topic of savings, here are some other non-family-oriented options. If you want to know more about savings accounts, here’s a reminder of our last month’s article on this (though bear in mind, the Wio rates above are now more up-to-date).

• Mashreq Neo - 6.25% for Salary transfer customers, or 5% if your average balance is above AED 50k

• ADCB - 4.5% if your average balance is above AED 50k

• FAB iSave / FAB Islamic Savings Account - Pays 4.25% on any new funds deposited in your account

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IN THE NEWS - UAE salary growth cools for 2026

If you were hoping for a big pay rise next year, you may need to reset your expectations. Cooper Fitch’s UAE Salary Guide 2026 expects average salaries to grow by about 1.6%, down from 2.6% this year.

Most companies plan increases of 0 to 5%, with only a small group offering 6 to 9% or more for hard-to-replace roles in tech, transformation and specialised finance.

The National has a good summary of what to expect in this article, including which sectors still expect stronger pay rises and how employers are thinking about hiring in 2026.

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Disclaimer: Please bear in mind that this email does not constitute financial advice. Any choices you make you are solely responsible for. We always aim to provide highest quality, independent views but do your own research to ensure you’re comfortable with any changes you make to your personal finances.