2026-07-30
The Central Bank of the UAE reported on 2026-07-30 that the country’s banks have deferred AED 13.5 billion in loan repayments for 135,031 customers under the comprehensive support package launched in March 2026. Large corporates account for AED 9.1 billion of the deferred amount, small and medium enterprises for AED 2.4 billion, and individuals for AED 2 billion. The more telling part of the release is what it says about the sector’s condition. The ratio of non-performing loans fell to 2.8%, the lowest on record, total banking assets grew 12.5% year on year, and lending expanded 18.1%. A banking system that can absorb AED 13.5 billion of postponed repayments while its bad-loan metrics keep improving is a system operating from strength, and that has direct, practical consequences for any business that banks in the Emirates.
What the central bank reported
The support package was launched in March 2026 as a proactive measure, giving banks a framework to postpone loan repayments for customers who needed breathing room rather than waiting for arrears to build up. The progress report published on 2026-07-30 is the first detailed accounting of how much relief has actually flowed. In roughly four months, banks approved deferrals worth AED 13.5 billion across 135,031 customers, a scale that shows lenders used the framework actively rather than treating it as a formality.
The regulator paired the deferral figures with a snapshot of the sector as of 2026-06-30, and the two halves of the release belong together. Total banking assets rose 12.5% year on year. Gross credit grew 18.1%, an unusually fast pace for a mature banking market. Customer deposits climbed 14%, which means the lending expansion is funded by the deposit base rather than by wholesale borrowing. In other words, the deferral programme is running inside a balance sheet that is growing on both sides, not propping up a sector under stress.
Who received the deferrals
The customer breakdown reverses the value breakdown. By headcount, individuals dominate: 127,753 private borrowers received deferrals, against 6,198 small and medium enterprises and 1,080 large corporates. By value, the order flips, with large corporates taking AED 9.1 billion, SMEs AED 2.4 billion and individuals AED 2 billion. Averaged out, that is roughly AED 8.4 million per large corporate, about AED 390,000 per SME and around AED 15,700 per individual, which tracks the typical size of an obligation in each segment.
For the SME segment the numbers deserve a second look. More than six thousand smaller companies obtained payment relief through a formal, regulator-backed channel instead of falling into technical default or negotiating one-off restructurings from a weak position. That matters for how those companies will be treated later: a deferral granted under a central bank programme is a materially better entry in a credit file than a missed payment.
Record asset quality behind the relief
The headline that will hold analysts’ attention is asset quality. The non-performing loan ratio fell to 2.8% in the second quarter of 2026, the lowest level on record, down from 8.2% in 2020. The net NPL ratio, which nets out provisions already set aside, reached 1.3%, also a record low, compared with 3.6% in 2020. The absolute stock of problem loans declined as well, to AED 76 billion from AED 84 billion in the first quarter of 2026, so the improvement is not a denominator effect from fast loan growth alone: the pile of bad debt is shrinking in dirham terms while the loan book expands.
This combination explains why the regulator can run a large deferral programme without spooking anyone. In 2020, payment holidays were a crisis response. In 2026, the same instrument is being used pre-emptively by a sector whose buffers are at their strongest. Banks that grew assets 12.5% and cut their problem-loan stock by AED 8 billion in a single quarter have the capacity to be patient with borrowers, and the central bank’s report is effectively a public statement that patience is policy.
What this means for companies banking in the UAE
If your company holds a facility with a UAE bank and cash flow is tight, the deferral route exists, is regulator-sanctioned and has now been used more than 135,000 times. It is a conversation worth having with your relationship manager before a payment is missed, not after. The report’s figures show banks are granting relief across all three segments, including small companies, so an SME with a reasonable file has a realistic path to a postponement rather than a penalty.
For companies that are entering the market or expanding, the sector data is the more important half. Credit growing at 18.1% with record-low NPLs describes a banking system with both appetite and capacity. In practice that shows up in facility approvals, in pricing, and in the willingness of compliance teams to onboard new corporate clients. The caveat is unchanged: UAE banks remain strict on documentation, source of funds and substance, and a strong lending cycle does not soften know-your-customer checks. A company with a clear licensed activity, real operations and a consistent paper trail gets through onboarding; a shell does not. Our UAE bank account opening guide explains what compliance teams actually examine.
Checklist for a business reading this report
- If repayments are straining cash flow, ask your bank about the March 2026 support package before an instalment is missed. A programme deferral is not recorded like a default.
- Document the request properly: management accounts, a cash-flow forecast and a clear reason make approval faster.
- If you are planning new facilities, use the cycle. Credit growth of 18.1% and record asset quality mean banks are competing for good corporate borrowers.
- Keep the licence, invoices and account activity consistent: growing banks still price and onboard on file quality.
- Opening a first corporate account remains a compliance exercise, not a formality. Prepare the file as carefully as a loan application.
- Watch the next quarterly release: if deferral volumes rise sharply while NPLs stay low, the programme is working as designed.
How Atlant Capital can help
Access to UAE banking is decided by how a company is structured and how its file reads long before any application is submitted. That is the layer we work on. Our team handles company setup in the mainland and free zones, building structures that banks recognise, and runs corporate bank account opening end to end: bank selection, document pack, compliance narrative and follow-up with the relationship manager. For companies with existing facilities, we help prepare the documentation for restructuring or deferral conversations so the request lands as a well-argued case rather than a distress signal.
The bottom line
The central bank’s 2026-07-30 report carries two messages at once. Borrowers received AED 13.5 billion of breathing room across 135,031 files, and the system providing that relief is in the best shape it has ever reported: NPLs at 2.8%, net NPLs at 1.3%, assets up 12.5%, credit up 18.1%, deposits up 14%. For a business in the Emirates the takeaway is straightforward. The banking system has room to support you, whether that support is a deferred instalment on an existing loan or a new facility for growth, and the companies that benefit are the ones that approach it with a clean, well-documented file.
Source: Central Bank of the UAE progress report on the March 2026 support package, published 2026-07-30, with sector data as of 2026-06-30; reported by Gulf News.
