Business loans for SMEs in the UAE: eligibility and documents

To get a business loan in the UAE, a company applies to a bank or finance company with its trade licence, bank statements and financial records, and the lender checks the company’s report at the Etihad Credit Bureau (AECB). Each lender sets its own minimum trading history, turnover and security, and Central Bank rules require the lender to give the business a Key Facts Statement before it signs.

Key takeaways

• Business finance in the UAE comes as term loans, working capital lines, overdrafts, trade finance, asset finance and business cards.
• Each lender sets its own minimum trading history, turnover and security; two bank SME pages checked on 13 October 2026 asked for two and three years of trading.
• Lenders must check the company's credit record; the AECB company report costs AED 157.50 including VAT and covers the last three years.
• Since 13 September 2026, Central Bank SME rules require lenders to give a full document list, a Key Facts Statement before signing and, in most cases, a written reason for a refusal.
• SMEs can take unresolved complaints against licensed banks and finance companies to Sanadak free of charge.

Bank criteria on this page are what the lenders’ own pages said on 13 October 2026. They change, so check the current page before you apply. Rates in the worked example are illustrations, not offers.

Types of business finance

Business finance in the UAE comes in six broad forms, and the right one depends on what the money pays for and how quickly it comes back into the business. Lenders name their products differently, so read what a product does rather than what it is called.

Islamic banks meet the same needs through Shariah structures. Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB), for example, describes its SME business finance as based on “Sukuk Murabaha principles”, so the cost is a profit rate rather than interest. Islamic business finance structures explains how these contracts differ from a conventional loan. Business credit cards, including who is liable for the balance, are a topic of their own: see business credit cards.

What lenders look at

Lenders look at five things: how long the business has traded under a valid licence, how much money flows through its accounts, the company’s credit record, the owners’ own records, and the security behind the loan. Each lender sets its own thresholds. Central Bank rules add one limit for all of them: a bank or finance company must not lend more than the business can service, judged by its own assessment of the business’s ability to pay (Article 5.1 of the SME Customer Protection Regulation).

The published SME criteria of two Islamic banks, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB) and DIB, show how far products differ. Other lenders set other figures.

Both banks say they may ask for more documents, and ADIB says other criteria apply.

Trade licence and trading history

Lenders want a valid trade licence and a record of trading under it. DIB asks for the licence or proof of renewal and the memorandum and articles of association; ADIB for the licence and the memorandum. The minimum trading period is each lender’s choice, two years at DIB and three at ADIB, and a business that has traded for less does not meet that product’s criteria. Finance for startups, including government programmes, is a separate subject.

Turnover and bank statements

Turnover is the second filter. Both banks above set a minimum annual figure for their product, ADIB a maximum as well, and both ask for the last 12 months of company bank statements to see the money coming in. DIB also asks for the VAT certificate and VAT reports for the last four quarters; ADIB asks for the VAT registration certificate.

Statements show what actually passed through the company account. Sales paid into a personal account do not appear in them, so the turnover a lender sees can be lower than the turnover the business declares.

The company credit report

Lenders must check the company’s credit record before they lend. Under the Central Bank’s SME rules, a bank or finance company must examine an SME’s credit record, its ability to meet monthly obligations and its past credit behaviour, and should lend only after obtaining the details from a credit information agency, which the rules define as the Etihad Credit Bureau or any other agency set up for credit reporting.

AECB company credit report

AED 157.50

A company credit report costs AED 157.50 including VAT and covers the last three years.

The report covers three years of payment history on every active or closed facility and service, along with any returned cheques and court-ordered financial obligations. Buying it before you apply shows you what the lender will see, and the bureau’s data correction service lets you report wrong or outdated entries.

The company credit score is sold separately.

AECB company credit score

300 to 900

The company credit score ranges from 300 to 900 and predicts the likelihood of a company missing payments in the next 12 months; it costs AED 10.50.

A score is generated only if the company has used credit facilities in the last 24 months, so a company that has not borrowed in that time will not get one. How to apply, what each section shows and how to fix errors are covered in the guide to the AECB company credit report.

The owners’ personal records

The people behind the company count too, at least at the two banks above. ADIB requires no default history at the bureau for guarantors and active partners, UAE nationals and expatriates alike. DIB asks for a credit bureau consent form from the sole owner or authorised signatory as well as from the company.

A personal guarantee puts the owner’s own finances behind the loan: if the company does not pay, the lender can turn to the guarantor. Owners can check their personal AECB report before the company applies.

Security, guarantees and cheques

Security depends on the lender, the product and the amount, and can include:

• a personal guarantee from one or more owners;
• a charge over assets such as equipment, vehicles, property or deposits;
• an assignment of receivables, so that customers’ payments go to the lender first;
• security cheques signed for the company.

Before you decide, the lender must explain the risks of the product, including the risk of pledging collateral (Article 3.4 of the SME regulation). The Central Bank’s limits on the cheques a lender may hold, and on how fast it must return them, are in its consumer rules, which cover individuals and sole proprietors but not companies; the SME regulation has no matching clause. Ask the lender in writing how many cheques it will hold, for what amounts and when it will return them.

Documents checklist

Expect to provide the company’s legal documents, identity documents for the people who own and sign for it, bank statements, financial statements and tax records. You do not have to guess the list: Central Bank rules require the lender to give it to you before it provides the product.

What the lender must give you first

Key Facts Statement

Before providing a financial product or service to an SME, a bank or finance company must give it a complete list of the documents and information it needs, explain in writing the stages of the process and the expected timeline, keep it informed of the application's status, and provide a Key Facts Statement whose receipt the SME acknowledges before entering into the contract.

The table combines the lists on the two bank pages above. “Both” means both banks list the document.

Once you apply, the lender must keep you informed of where the application stands and tell you its final decision in good time.

Is your business an SME?

A business is an SME if it stays within the limits of Cabinet Resolution No. 22 of 2016. At the top of the range, a medium trading firm has up to 200 employees or up to AED 250 million in annual revenue, with lower revenue limits in services and higher headcount limits in manufacturing. The Central Bank uses the same definition for its SME rules.

UAE SME definition

Cabinet Resolution 22/2016

An SME is a micro, small or medium business within the employee or annual revenue thresholds of Cabinet Resolution No. 22 of 2016; the upper limits for a medium enterprise are 200 employees or AED 250 million in trading, 250 employees or AED 250 million in manufacturing, and 200 employees or AED 200 million in services.

Revenue limits are annual. The UAE Government portal publishes the same figures by sector.

The definition matters because it decides which Central Bank rules protect the business when it borrows.

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).

The regulation covers sole proprietors as well as companies. It requires lenders to adapt their products and their treatment of customers to the SME category, to weigh the size of the business when setting fees, and not to make one product conditional on buying another. The same definition opens Sanadak to SMEs: the Ombudsman Unit Regulation counts sole proprietors and SMEs as consumers.

Loans without collateral

Some lenders offer business finance without collateral, but the other conditions still apply. ADIB, for example, describes the working capital finance in its small business product as collateral-free, yet asks for three years of trading, at least AED 5 million of annual turnover and a clean credit record for the company, its guarantors and active partners.

Without an asset to fall back on, the lender relies on the business’s cash flow and credit record, and on any guarantee from the owners. Central Bank rules also encourage lenders to work with credit guarantee schemes, the movable collateral registry and SME credit scoring services run by federal or emirate-level government agencies and development banks. Ask a lender whether it uses any such scheme. Other forms of unsecured business finance are a topic of their own.

Costs to compare

Compare three things across offers: the rate and how it is calculated, every fee, and the cost of repaying early. The SME rules require lenders to disclose rates, fees, the term and the payment schedule in plain language, in English and Arabic, and to hand over a Key Facts Statement before you sign.

The rate basis. A quote can be a flat rate, charged on the full amount for the whole term, or a reducing rate, charged only on what is still owed. The same number costs far more as a flat rate. For loans to individuals, Central Bank rules make any bank that advertises a flat rate show the effective rate beside it (Regulation 29/2011, Article 6). The SME regulation has no such line, so ask for the reducing equivalent of any flat quote. Flat vs reducing rates explains the conversion.

If the rate is variable, ask which benchmark it follows, such as EIBOR, and how often it resets; what EIBOR is explains the benchmark. Published rates also vary with the term and the customer: DIB’s business finance page lists profit rates that rise with the term and are lower for existing customers than for new ones.

Fees. The SME regulation sets principles rather than figures.

Fees for SMEs

Fair and proportionate

Fees charged to SMEs must be fair, reasonable and proportionate to the institution's costs and must take the customer's size into account; institutions must not exceed any maximum fees the Central Bank prescribes and must give the SME a written schedule of applicable fees.

The Central Bank’s numeric caps on loan fees and early settlement charges are in its rules for retail customers: Regulation 29/2011 on loans to individual customers, and the fee annexure of the Consumer Protection Standards, which cover individuals and sole proprietors. A company’s facility is outside both, so the caps cannot be taken for granted, and a sole proprietor should ask the lender whether it applies them. Ask for the written schedule of fees, which the lender must provide.

Early settlement and switching. The facility letter sets what you pay to settle early or to move the loan to another lender, so read that clause before you sign. The SME regulation bars lenders from blocking a move to another institution: switching must be possible at reasonable, disclosed costs and within a reasonable time.

Worked example

AED 250,000 over 36 months: 6% flat against 10% reducing

The loan amount and both rates are illustrations, not bank offers, and fees are left out to compare the rates alone.

1. Flat interest: AED 250,000 × 6% × 3 years = AED 45,000.
2. Flat instalment: (AED 250,000 + AED 45,000) ÷ 36 = AED 8,194.44.
3. The reducing rate that gives the same AED 8,194.44 instalment over 36 months is about 11.08%.
4. A 10% reducing quote: the standard instalment formula with r = 10% ÷ 12 and n = 36 gives AED 8,066.80 a month, AED 290,404.68 in total, so AED 40,404.68 of interest.
5. Difference: AED 45,000.00 minus AED 40,404.68 = AED 4,595.32 over the term, about AED 127.65 a month.

	6% flat	10% reducing
Monthly instalment	AED 8,194.44	AED 8,066.80
Total interest	AED 45,000.00	AED 40,404.68
Reducing equivalent	About 11.08%	10%

The 6% flat quote costs AED 4,595.32 more than the 10% reducing quote, because 6% flat over 36 months is about 11.08% reducing.

A lender’s own figures can differ by a few dirhams if it calculates interest by the day. The flat to reducing rate converter does step 3 for any quote, and the loan payment calculator does steps 1, 2 and 4.

How to prepare: step by step

Preparing for a business loan comes down to six steps, starting with what the lender will see first.

1. Check the company’s credit report. Buy the company report and, if the company has used credit in the last 24 months, its score. Report anything wrong to the bureau before a lender reads it, and have the owners check their personal reports at the same time.
2. Tidy the bank statements. Run sales and costs through the company account for at least the 12 months before you apply, the period both banks above ask for. Keep cheques covered: returned cheques appear on the company report.
3. Prepare the financial statements. Have the latest accounts ready, audited where the lender requires it (ADIB does for finance above AED 1 million), with VAT returns for the same period.
4. Decide what security you can offer. List the assets the business could pledge and agree whether any owner will sign a personal guarantee. Read what a guarantee commits the guarantor to before signing.
5. Compare lenders. Check each lender’s minimum trading period, turnover range and maximum amount against your figures, ask for its document list, and compare offers on the reducing rate, the fees and the early settlement terms.
6. Apply and follow up. Apply in writing. The lender must keep you informed of the application’s progress and, if it refuses, give you the reason in writing unless the reason relates to financial crime risk or the law prohibits telling you.

If something goes wrong

If you have a problem with a bank or finance company, complain to it first. If the complaint is not resolved, an SME can take it to Sanadak, the independent ombudsman unit set up by the Central Bank, without paying a fee.

Lender'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.

Sanadak’s FAQ says SMEs and business owners file through the same procedure as individual consumers. Complaints and Sanadak walks through the steps, time limits and appeals.

If the business is struggling to pay, contact the lender early. Central Bank rules require banks and finance companies to have a framework for SMEs in financial difficulty, including restructuring or adjusted payment plans, and to offer impartial credit counselling. What happens when a business cannot repay at all, including how personal guarantees are enforced, is a topic of its own.

Cheques need particular care. Under the Commercial Transactions Law, a cheque that the bank marks as unpaid for insufficient funds is an executive document: the holder can ask the execution court to enforce it, in whole or in part, without first filing a lawsuit. Some acts linked to cheques remain crimes; bounced cheques after the 2022 reforms lists them.

Cheque offences

6 months to 2 years

Telling the bank not to pay your own cheque in cases the law does not allow, closing or emptying the account, deliberately getting it frozen, or writing a cheque so it cannot be cashed remains a crime: 6 months to 2 years in prison and/or a fine of at least 10% of the cheque value (minimum AED 5,000) up to double the value.

For the company report, complaints and other borrowing topics, see the Business credit guides.