Al Ansari is licensed by the UAE Central Bank and is the biggest name in UAE exchange houses — over 230 branches across all seven emirates, and the first publicly listed money exchange in the country. If scale and a long track record matter to you, this is the benchmark.
On the popular remittance corridors — India, Pakistan, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Nepal — instant transfers carry a modest flat fee, with the exchange-rate spread layered on top of that. Larger transfers or digital-channel bookings sometimes qualify for a discount. The counter rate spread sits a little over mid-market on most currencies, tighter on USD, EUR and GBP.
Reviews are genuinely mixed. Al Ansari scores well on aggregator sites for licensing and overall trust, but Trustpilot has a recurring thread of complaints about transfer delays and rate transparency at busy branches — worth factoring in if you're sending on a deadline.