Business credit cards in the UAE: how they work and who pays

A business credit card in the UAE is a card account in the name of a company or sole proprietorship, with cards issued to the people it names. In both corporate card agreements we read, the business is liable for every charge, even a cardholder’s misuse. Central Bank SME rules cover both legal forms if the business is an SME, and a sole proprietor also counts as a consumer.

Key takeaways

• The card account belongs to the business, and in both bank agreements we read the business is liable for every charge, including a cardholder's misuse.
• A sole proprietorship carries the owner's unlimited personal liability, and the Central Bank treats a sole proprietor as a consumer; a company is not one.
• SMEs, sole proprietors included, are covered by the SME Customer Protection Regulation: a Key Facts Statement, fair fees and no credit without a written request.
• Cards for sole proprietorships or companies secured by the owner's or partners' salary follow the same Regulation 29/2011 rules as other card facilities.
• One of the two agreements allows business use only, and under Corporate Tax only spending incurred wholly and exclusively for the business is deductible.

How a business credit card works

Our examples come from two corporate card agreements we read on 13 October 2026, from Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB, version 05, March 2026) and United Arab Bank (UAB, version 1.0, June 2026). In both, every card draws on one credit limit in the business’s name and every charge is billed to the business’s card account. The two agreements show how two banks write these contracts, not what every bank does.

One account, several cardholders

ADCB’s customer can be any corporate body, including a partnership, a sole proprietorship or a limited liability company, and every transaction on its cards goes to one Corporate Card Account. UAB issues cards to the employees the business designates (clause 2.1), and its card types include virtual cards and single-use cards, a single-use card being limited to one merchant, amount or validity period.

Limits and controls

The bank sets the overall limit, and the business decides who spends within it. ADCB allocates a company credit limit across the individual card limits and can change either at any time. UAB has the business appoint a programme administrator to manage card issuance, limits, controls and user access.

Neither bank takes on checking that employees use their cards as the business intends. ADCB has no duty to ensure a card is used for the customer’s purposes (clause 2.8.3), and UAB need not check the business’s internal approvals (clause 3.17). The business’s own card policy is the control that matters.

Who is liable for the balance

The business that holds the account. In both agreements we read, it is liable for every charge on every card, whoever made it. Whether an owner is also personally liable depends on the legal form of the business and on what the owner signs.

Company cards

ADCB’s clause 3.10 makes the customer solely liable for all amounts on the account, despite any breach of the terms or misuse of a card by the cardholder. Clause 3.11 keeps that liability after a card is cancelled, a cardholder’s employment ends or a cardholder dies. UAB’s clauses 1.8 and 1.12 leave liability for all charges with the corporate customer.

Both sets of terms also reach the cardholder. ADCB’s clause 6.4 says the customer “and/or” the cardholder remain fully liable for card debits, and under UAB’s clause 2.7 a cardholder accepts that the card is a borrowing relationship with the bank and must ensure, alongside the company, that amounts due are repaid.

Sole proprietorships

A sole proprietorship has no separate shield. The Central Bank defines it as a business owned and run by one person who bears unlimited personal liability, and not a limited liability company. A sole proprietorship’s card debt is, in practice, the owner’s own.

Who counts as a consumer

Natural persons and sole proprietors

The Central Bank's Consumer Protection Regulation and its Consumer Protection Standards apply when licensed financial institutions provide financial products and services to consumers, defined as natural persons and sole proprietors; a sole proprietorship is owned and run by one natural person with unlimited personal liability and is not a limited liability company.

Cards secured by the owner’s salary

Some business cards are secured by the salary of the owner or the partners. The Central Bank’s credit card rules for individual customers treat these like any other card facility.

Salary-secured business cards

Same rules as personal cards

Credit card facilities provided to sole proprietorship firms and companies and secured by the salary of the owner or the salaries of the partners are treated in the same way as other credit card facilities under Regulation 29/2011 and are subject to the same terms and conditions.

Personal guarantees

Whether a bank asks an owner for a personal guarantee on a business card is its own policy, and neither agreement we read mentions one: ADCB’s terms define a guarantee only as one from a bank. A guarantor answers for the company’s debt if the company does not pay. ADCB’s terms let the bank ask at any time for an undated cheque or cash collateral, and to date and present the cheque against amounts due. Read any guarantee or security cheque request before signing; bounced cheques and the law explains what follows if a cheque is returned unpaid.

Which Central Bank rules protect you

It depends on the legal form and the size of the business. A sole proprietor is a consumer under the Consumer Protection Regulation; a company is not. Both are covered by the SME Customer Protection Regulation if the business is within the official SME definition of Cabinet Resolution No. 22 of 2016.

SME customer protection rules

13 September 2026

The Central Bank's SME Customer Protection Regulation (Circular 2/2026) applies to all banks and finance companies it licenses, including those operating under Islamic Shari'ah, when they provide financial products and services to SMEs, including sole proprietors; it took effect on 13 September 2026 and cancelled the SME Market Conduct Regulation (Circular 1/2021).

Under the SME regulation, the business is entitled to:

• a complete list of the documents the bank needs and a Key Facts Statement before it signs;
• no credit without its prior written request, and no more than the bank judges it can service;
• no card made conditional on buying another product;
• fair, proportionate fees and a written fee schedule;
• the reason for a rejection in writing, unless it relates to financial crime risk or the law forbids it;
• written notice before changes to the terms or fees take effect.

Notice of changes

60 calendar days

A bank or finance company must give an SME at least 60 calendar days' written notice before changes to the terms and conditions of a financial product or service, including changes to fees, take effect.

The Central Bank’s numeric card fee caps are in its rules for retail customers: Regulation 29/2011, written for individual customers, and the fee annexure of the Consumer Protection Standards, which cover individuals and sole proprietors. Beyond salary-secured cards, the texts we read do not say whether those caps, or the other consumer card rules, reach a business card, a sole proprietor’s included, so this guide quotes no cap. Consumer protection rights covers the consumer rules.

What banks look at before issuing

Each bank sets its own criteria for business cards. Under the SME regulation, the lender must also examine the business’s credit record and should give credit only after obtaining details from a credit information agency such as the Etihad Credit Bureau. Both agreements we read let the bank check the customer’s credit standing at any time.

The bank must give you its full document list; SME business loans and documents shows what lenders ask for business loans. The Central Bank’s minimum income for credit cards sits in the same Regulation 29/2011 card rules, written for individual customers; the income rules for personal credit cards cover it.

Can you use a business credit card for personal spending?

Only if the card agreement and the business’s own policy allow it. UAB limits cards to business purposes authorised by the company (clauses 2.12 and 3.1). ADCB rules out unlawful use (clause 3.9) and leaves it to the customer to make sure cards serve its purposes. Either way, the business owes the bank for a personal purchase like any other charge.

Tax is a separate test. For a business subject to Corporate Tax, the law decides what is deductible, whatever the means of payment.

Corporate Tax: deductible expenditure

Business spending only

Under the UAE Corporate Tax law, expenditure is deductible only if it is incurred wholly and exclusively for the purposes of the business and is not capital in nature; expenditure not incurred for the business is not deductible, and where spending has more than one purpose only the business part is deductible.

Worked example

Business card statement of AED 12,000 with one personal purchase

The amounts are illustrations. The example covers Corporate Tax only, not VAT or how the business records the purchase.

1. Statement: AED 10,500 of supplies and business travel plus AED 1,500 for a personal purchase = AED 12,000.
2. Owed to the bank: the full AED 12,000, because both agreements make the business liable for every charge.
3. The personal purchase was not incurred for the business, so Article 28(2)(a) allows no deduction for it.
4. Business spending: AED 12,000 minus AED 1,500 = AED 10,500, deductible if incurred wholly and exclusively for the business and not capital in nature.

The business pays the bank AED 12,000, but at most AED 10,500 of it counts as deductible expenditure.

How to record or recover a personal charge is a matter for the business’s card policy and its accountant.

Costs to compare

Each bank sets its own prices, so compare the Key Facts Statement and the written fee schedule. The cost lines in the two agreements we read:

We do not rank cards. To find the best business credit card for your company, compare who is liable, whether the balance must be cleared each month, the controls over employee cards and the fees in each Key Facts Statement. How credit card interest and fees work explains the interest calculation.

Business cards and the company’s credit record

The Etihad Credit Bureau’s company credit report includes company credit card limits and usage.

What the company report shows

3 years

The company credit report covers the last three years and includes the company score, company details, total credit and service exposure, monthly payment patterns, any defaults, returned cheques or overdue amounts, company card limits and usage, loan and facility balances, telecom and utility payment history, and court-ordered financial obligations.

The bureau’s Company Credit Score page names credit management, payment history and the number of facilities held as the factors behind the score, and lists fewer cards and lower card utilisation among the behaviours that help. The UAB agreement lists reporting a default to credit bureaus among the bank’s remedies. See the AECB company credit report.

If the business cannot pay the card

Talk to the bank before the due date passes. Central Bank rules require lenders to support SMEs in financial difficulty.

Help for SMEs in difficulty

Support framework

Banks and finance companies must have a framework to support SMEs in financial difficulty, including restructuring, changes to the credit product or adjusted payment plans, and must offer impartial credit counselling to SMEs that struggle to service their debt.

The contract sets the bank’s remedies. Under the UAB agreement, missing full payment by the due date, or a failed direct debit, is an event of default. After an optional short period in which it tries to recover the balance from the company’s accounts, the bank may declare the total outstanding immediately due, block cards, set off money in the company’s other accounts with the bank, appoint collection agencies and report the default to credit bureaus and the Central Bank. Other agreements differ. What happens when a business cannot repay at all is a topic of its own.

For a complaint, go to the bank first.

Bank's complaint deadlines

30 business days

A bank or finance company must acknowledge an SME's complaint in writing within 2 business days with a reference number, and send a final written response with detailed reasons within 30 business days, including how to escalate to Sanadak if the complaint is not resolved.

Sanadak for SMEs

Free

Filing a complaint with Sanadak is free for consumers and SMEs.

How to complain and use Sanadak walks through the steps. If an employee’s card is lost or misused, tell the bank at once: the UAB agreement sets its own deadline for reporting unauthorised transactions. Card fraud and disputed transactions covers the next steps, and the Business credit guides cover loans and the company report.