That's Sarwa in a nutshell. Keep reading to know more about our Sarwa analysis.

Launched in 2017, Sarwa is a wealth management company offering trading and investing services. It uses an algorithm to recommend a portfolio based on your financial goals and your approach to risk. Sarwa focuses on building long-term wealth by passively investing in a set of exchange-traded funds (ETFs). It has a diverse set of portfolios that fit almost any investor profile. It also has Conventional Portfolios, Crypto portfolios, Socially Responsible crypto portfolios, Socially Responsible portfolios, and Halal portfolios, which make the company attractive to all investors. As a plus, you can withdraw money at any time without any fees.

Sarwa’s portfolios are automatically rebalanced on a regular basis to make sure that your money is invested at the target weights. The company is regulated by the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), and the Abu Dhabi Global Market center (ADGM). It is available for international investors, except in these countries.

• Various portfolios are available: Conventional, Crypto, Socially Responsible, Socially Responsible crypto, and Halal
• Access to financial advisors
• The support team is always available
• The risk level can be changed automatically
• International investors can open an account at Sarwa
• Minimum balance of $500
• Modern and easy to use application

• No flexibility in selecting an ETF if you don’t like one of the recommended ETFs
• Having access to Sarwa Trade could be a distraction. You might end up trading on your own instead of having your portfolio automatically managed
• Changing a portfolio (for example from conventional to socially responsible) is not automated; you need to reach out to the support team
• US citizens are not eligible
• Crypto portfolios have only 5% of indirect exposure to Bitcoin (not really “Crypto portfolios”)
• US options are quite expensive ($4 per contract)

You can access Sarwa through their website or the mobile application (available on iOS and Android). Both interfaces are straightforward and user-friendly, where you can access all the information you need in seconds.

Sarwa Web platform

Once you log in to your account, all information regarding your portfolio is available on one page. As your portfolios are automatically managed, you only have access to change the risk level of your portfolio or add Bitcoin exposure (5%), then the adjustment will be reflected within one trading day. You can easily check your account positions, projected gains, past performance, and target allocation by clicking on each corresponding tab. You can also check your activity details and download portfolio statements through the “Activity statement”.

Sarwa Mobile Application

Sarwa’s mobile application is also very simple. Similar to the web design, the Sarwa Invest tab contains all the information related to your portfolio such as account balance, net deposits, and earnings.

You can also check some portfolio metrics like the money-weighted and time-weighted rate of return.

If you check the "Portfolio Details" tab, you will see a brief description of each ETF along with its performance, market value, and the number of units you hold.

You can have a two-step authentication by just selecting the “Account” tab on the lower right of the screen, and enabling face recognition in the “Security” tab.

Sarwa Trade

Recently, Sarwa launched Sarwa Trade, a trading service where you can buy stocks and ETFs for $1 or 0.25% of traded value and US options for $4 per contract. This is a separate service from Sarwa Invest, where you will be trading and investing on your own.

Products

Sarwa offers four different products targeting various investors.

1. Conventional Portfolios (Starting at $500): Invest in a set of globally diversified ETFs
2. Social Responsible Investment (SRI) Portfolios (Starting at $2,500): Investments considering both financial returns and ethical investment criteria. The strategy works on investing in assets that have positive impact socially and environmentally.
3. Crypto Portfolios (Starting at $2,500): Sarwa will invest 5% of your conventional or SRI portfolio in Greyscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC), the largest publicly traded Bitcoin fund in the world.
4. Halal Portfolios (Starting at $500): Invest in Islamic ETFs that are Shariah compliant.

Sarwa recommends a particular set of ETFs. The allocation to various asset classes varies depending on your financial objective and your risk profile. For the conventional, socially responsible, and Crypro accounts, Sarwa offers up to six different portfolios for each product: Very conservative, conservative, moderate conservative, balanced, moderate growth, and growth. For the Halal accounts, it offers an additional aggressive portfolio.

Portfolio Structure and Holdings

When you invest with Sarwa, it diversifies your investments using Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs). We checked the structure of the holdings among the various portfolios, and we summarized them below:

Conventional

The very conservative portfolio invests most of the funds (92%) in Global and US bonds, while the remaining 8% is invested in equities. As your risk profile becomes less conservative, the allocation to bonds decreases to 6%, and the allocation to the other asset classes increases: 5% to real estate, 36% to global stocks, 41% to US stocks, and 12% to emerging market stocks.

Socially Responsible Investments (SRI)

If you like to solely invest in companies that meet certain socially responsible standards and have a positive impact on the society and the environment, you will be interested in the SRI portfolios. Similar to conventional portfolios, the more conservative investor you are, the more the portfolio will be biased towards secure investments like bonds. Conversely, as you are willing to take on higher risks, the equity and real estate allocation will increase.

Crypto Portfolios

In case you want to have exposure to Bitcoin while investing, Sarwa recommends allocating only 5% of your portfolio to Greyscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC). You will get direct exposure to Bitcoin’s price without the hassle of owning and storing Bitcoins. However, you won’t get exposure to the other cryptocurrencies like Ethereum, Litecoin or Ripple. Additionally, since only 5% of your portfolio is allocated to crypto, it is still biased to traditional asset classes (equities and bonds). So it is not really a “Crypto portfolio”.

Below you can find how the allocation will differ based on your risk level:

Halal Portfolios

If you don’t know what Halal portfolios are, they are Islamic compliant portfolios where investors do not invest in businesses that profit from certain activities such as alcohol, tobacco, and gambling. Sarwa offers seven different allocations, summarized below.

Performance

Sarwa states that an optimally diversified portfolio of ETFs is expected to generate between 3% and 8% yearly, depending on the risk you’re ready to take. In theory, the more risk you are willing to take, the higher return you can expect to generate, but remember, this is not guaranteed as past performance do not guarantee future returns. You can find below the historical performance of a "balanced" portfolio (Example):

It should be noted that the official launch of Sarwa’s portfolios was in 2017, and the historical returns are net of management fees (here, they assumed it is 0.5%).

Sarwa Features

Sarwa has a free retirement calculator that helps you figure out how much money you’ll need to retire. You just need to adjust a few parameters related to your personal financial situation (initial savings, monthly contribution, age, etc.), then the calculator will estimate your retirement savings status.

The platform provides many other attractive features that make your investment journey easy and automated:

• Auto-deposits: You can set up an auto-deposit instruction, and the funds will be automatically allocated to your account regularly;
• Dividend reinvesting: Any dividends received can be reinvested back into your portfolio;
• Automatic rebalancing: Sarwa rebalances your portfolio every time the amount invested in the ETFs deviates by 12% from the target allocation. For example, suppose the target weight is to invest 10% in a particular ETF. In that case, once the weight reaches 11.2%, Sarwa will execute an automatic rebalancing of your portfolio, bringing back the percentage to 10%. The deviation may occur as a result of withdrawals or deposits or due to the performance of the ETFs.
• Access to financial advisors: On-demand, you have access to expert financial advisors who help you plan for the future. And yes, it is for free.

Like other Robo-advisors, Sarwa charges a relatively lower fee than traditional financial advisors. It depends on the amount you are willing to invest and ranges between 0.50% and 0.85% annually. The fees are billed on a monthly basis.

• Standard plan ($500 - $50,000): 0.85% annually;
• Premium plan ($50,000 - $100,000): 0.70% annually;
• Platinum plan ($100,000+): 0.50% annually.

In addition to Sarwa’s advisory fees, you have to account for the fees charged by the ETF fund managers. Sarwa works on selecting low-cost ETFs, and it claims that they charge on average 0.10% annually.

For Sarwa Trade, these are the fees:

• US stocks and ETFs: $1 or 0.25% of traded value;
• US options: $4 per contract traded.

Withdrawal & Deposit fees

Sarwa does not charge any fees on withdrawals or deposits. If you are funding or withdrawing in AED from a UAE bank, there will be no bank transfer fees. However, if you make an international transfer, you may pay the transfer fee set by your bank.

Sarwa is regulated and supervised by two top regulators: the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), an independent regulator of financial services in the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), and the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA), an independent regulatory authority in the Abu Dhabi Global Market center.

Once you fund your account, Sarwa transfers the money to a separate account at Saxo bank (regulated by Finanstilsynet, the Danish Financial Supervisory Authority), where it is kept in custody, as shown in the picture. If Saxo could not return securities (e.g. ETFs) held in safe custody, administered or managed, the Danish Guarantee Fund will cover up to EUR 20,000 (or equivalent in USD) per client. For cash deposits (money not yet invested by Sarwa), the protection goes up to EUR 100,000 (or equivalent in USD).

However, there is an operational risk from the moment you deposit your money until it is transferred to the custodian. During that time, you are not protected since no investor protection scheme (ICS) applies to Sarwa itself. So, despite Sarwa being regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA) and by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Abu Dhabi (FSRA), the lack of an ICS for situations like Sarwa malfunctions (or even fraud) remains concerning and should be acknowledged by its users.

As for data protection, Sarwa’s platform is secured with 256-bit encryption. Thus, both your personal and account information are safely stored.

Sarwa has an excellent customer support team who typically replies within 24 hours (Our experience was very positive, they replied in a timely and professional manner). You can reach them by submitting your inquiry on their website, phone, or even on WhatsApp. They are available from Monday to Friday between 10 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. (Dubai time). You can check their Help Center, where they answer many frequently asked questions.

To get a sense of what customers think about Sarwa, we checked their reviews on TrustPilot. Most reviews are positive, despite some low-rated reviews related to their portfolios' performance, which we believe are related to the market performance and the general risks associated with investing.

Sarwa is available for international clients except for US citizens or those having single passports from Iran, North Korea, Northern Cyprus, and Yemen. The account opening process is very simple. You just need to have your passport and proof of residency. In the below section, we present some of the questions you will be asked to answer.

Once you download the application, you can start answering the questions of the on-boarding process, which are related to your financial situation (current net worth, yearly income, and employment status).

Then, they try to learn more about your risk profile: if you want to maximize gains or minimize losses, how you feel about losses, and your investment expectations.

At this stage, and based on your answers, Sarwa will be able to recommend an investment strategy that maximizes returns while managing your risk. You have the ability to change the risk level assigned to you, and you can even retake the survey.

Finally, you will need to answer some personal information (marital status, residency address, etc.), upload the required documents, and take a selfie.

This process does not take more than 15 minutes, and if you have any missing documents (in our case, we had), the Sarwa team will get back to you by email and finalize the process. We were able to open an account, submit missing documents, and get verified within 24 hours.  

Sarwa accepts funding and withdrawals in AED or USD, however all amounts will be converted to USD.

In conclusion, Sarwa is a fintech company offering Robo-advisory services through a wide range of accounts: Conventional, Socially Responsible Investments, Crypto, and Halal. It is best suited for new investors who are willing to start their investment journey. What we liked the most is that the on-boarding process is easy, you get access to financial advisors, new users get a $50 referral bonus with the referral code GHEF9ED9, and the minimum amount to start investing is $500.

It also offers Sarwa Trade if you prefer to have more discretion over your stocks and ETF picks. However, we think that it is a double-edged sword as it can be a distraction to your automated investment strategy. On the downside, Sarwa is not available in the US, you do not have the choice to select the ETFs within each strategy, and when it comes to the crypto portfolio, only 5% is allocated to a Bitcoin fund while the remaining is for equities and bonds.

Sarwa alternatives

• Vault Wealth: best for high investment amounts ($100k+). Vault Wealth is the UAE’s first digitally-enabled private wealth management app designed for HNWIs. It offers personalized guidance from dedicated financial advisors who prioritize clients’ best interests. Vault provides a suite of investment opportunities, including diversified portfolios of equities and bonds, private market opportunities such as private equity and venture capital, and a high-yield cash management solution.‍
• StashAway: equivalent of Sarwa. StashAway is renowned for its intelligent investment portfolios, tailored to various risk profiles and financial goals. The platform uses a sophisticated algorithm to optimize asset allocation and rebalance portfolios based on market conditions, providing a hands-off investment experience.‍
• eToro: Best for smart portfolios. eToro offers smart portfolios along with a unique social trading feature that allows users to follow and copy the trades of successful investors. Smart Portfolios offer investors a hands-off approach to investing, with automatic rebalancing and portfolio adjustments made to optimize performance.

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