DST 
Financing
Financing a Dubai company: your credit file first
Before any lender in the UAE quotes a company a number, it reads a file the company did not compile: a federal credit report holding thirty-six months of payment history, drawn from banks, finance companies, telecom and utility providers, courts and government entities. That file exists whether or not the company has ever borrowed. Reading it before the bank does is the cheapest preparation available.
Who holds it
Al Etihad Credit Bureau — a public joint stock company wholly owned by the UAE federal government — issues credit reports for both companies and individuals. A report summarises personal information, financial obligations and bills for the past three years, and the last reported salary where there is one. Financial institutions pull it when assessing an application for a loan, a credit card or any other credit facility, which in practice means every conversation about money starts there.
The report carries a credit score, an income utilisation ratio showing how payments weigh against reported income, a payment history covering the last thirty-six months, a summary of all credit contracts and cards, and a summary of court-ordered financial obligations.
Getting the company's own copy takes a branch visit
An individual logs in with UAE Pass, selects the report or the score, pays online and has the PDF instantly. A company does not. The application goes in on the AECB website, and then somebody attends one of the 250-plus Al Ansari Exchange branches in the UAE carrying three things: the Emirates ID of a partner, shareholder or manager named on the trade licence, the application number, and a copy of the trade licence.
That asymmetry is worth planning around. The company report cannot be produced in the meeting where it is first asked for, so it belongs on the list of things obtained before the funding conversation opens — next to the licence and the attested Memorandum of Association.
What the banks offer once they have read it
Financing options in the UAE vary by the company's activity, and the documents and procedures vary with them, because the products are backed by different assets. Products compliant with Islamic Shari'a banking guidelines are available alongside conventional ones. The published guidance for businesses running here reduces, in the end, to one instruction: settle payments on time to avoid penalties — which is also how the next thirty-six months of the file gets written.
A dispute that reaches court reaches the credit report. Court-ordered financial obligations are one of the report's five sections, which means an unpaid supplier invoice that turns litigious has a financing cost long after it has a legal one.
Where this sits in the sequence
The licence comes first — see registration — then the account, whose terms are a matter of contract rather than consumer protection once the company is an LLC, on the banking page. Financing comes third, and the tax position that shapes what the company can actually service is on the tax page.
Does a Dubai company have a credit file?
Yes. Al Etihad Credit Bureau, a public joint stock company wholly owned by the UAE federal government, issues credit reports for companies as well as individuals, nationals and residents alike.
What is in it?
A credit score, an income utilisation ratio, thirty-six months of payment history on loans and bills, a summary of credit contracts and cards, and court-ordered financial obligations. The data comes from banks, financial companies, telecom and utility providers, courts and government entities.
How does a company get its own report?
Apply on the AECB website, then attend any of the 250-plus Al Ansari Exchange branches in the UAE with the Emirates ID of a partner, shareholder or manager named on the trade licence, the application number, and a copy of the trade licence.
Is that different from how an individual gets one?
Yes, and it is the part that catches people out. An individual logs in with UAE Pass, pays online and receives the PDF instantly. A company's report has an in-person step, which means it has to be planned rather than produced in a meeting.
Is Islamic finance available to a company?
Yes. Financial products compliant with Islamic Shari'a banking guidelines are available alongside conventional ones, and the documents and procedures vary by bank because the products are backed by different assets.
Credit report contents, the thirty-six-month history, AECB's ownership and the application routes for individuals and companies: the Official Platform of the UAE Government, credit report of individuals and companies. Financing options and Shari'a-compliant products: the same platform, running a business on the mainland. Both read 15 September 2026. Nothing here is financial advice.