What happened
On 17 August 2026 the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) released its Financial Stability Report for 2025. The regulator confirms that the country's banking sector expanded its assets, grew its profits and pushed the share of problem loans to a multi-year low; capital remains comfortable, liquidity is strong, and the stress test showed the system is resilient to an adverse scenario.
Headline banking numbers for 2025
Per CBUAE, in 2025 the UAE banking sector delivered the following:
- Assets — Dh5.3 trillion, up 17.1% year on year;
- Loan portfolio — up 17.8%, driven mainly by domestic lending to retail and private corporate segments;
- Net sector profit — Dh90.8 billion, up 11.7%;
- Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) — 17.0%, comfortably above the regulatory minimum;
- Non-performing loan (NPL) ratio — 3.3%, down from 4.7% a year earlier and 8.2% in 2020;
- Liquidity — strong, supported by continued deposit growth.
The overall picture is a sector growing at double-digit rates while portfolio quality improves. NPLs falling from 8.2% (2020) to 3.3% (2025) is a near 2.5x reduction over five years.
Stress test: banks withstand the adverse scenario
The annual CBUAE supervisory stress test for 2025 confirmed the sector's resilience to severe economic and financial shocks. The key metric is average Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1): under the adverse scenario it fell from 14.1% to a low of 11.1% during the stress horizon — and stayed above the regulatory minimum throughout.
CET1 is the highest-quality layer of capital (paid-in shareholder capital plus retained earnings), which a bank uses first to absorb unexpected losses. The fact that this ratio does not fall below regulatory requirements under a modelled bad scenario means banks on average retain the ability to keep operating under pressure. That is the core resilience argument rating agencies and corporate clients look at when choosing a bank.
Aani and Jaywan: national payment systems
The report also tracks progress on two flagship CBUAE payment initiatives. Both are operated by Al Etihad Payments, a CBUAE subsidiary.
- Aani is an instant retail payments service, launched in October 2023 with ten participating banks. It is an alternative to classic interbank transfers: 24/7 payments between individuals and businesses inside the country using a phone number.
- Jaywan is the UAE's first domestic card scheme. Card issuance began in July 2026; First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) and Commercial Bank of Dubai (CBD) were among the first issuers. The scheme develops as a local "rail" for domestic card transactions — typically this reduces fees and reinforces the country's independence from external payment networks.
What Jaywan is, how it differs from Visa/Mastercard inside the UAE and what it changes for settlements is covered in our separate overview Jaywan — the UAE's national card scheme.
What it means for business and bank clients
Practical takeaways from the report — mainly for those holding corporate accounts, raising financing or planning to scale a business in the UAE.
- Counterparty bank stability. Sector averages are not a guarantee for any specific bank, but they set the upper frame. Comfortable capital (CAR 17%) and low NPLs (3.3%) is the baseline environment banks in the UAE operate in. When choosing a bank, compare the specific numbers from your bank's financial statements to these averages. How to open an account and what to check is covered in our guide corporate bank account in the UAE.
- Access to credit. Loan-portfolio growth of 17.8% signals banks have not frozen lending: retail and the private corporate segment are receiving funding. For a growing business this means that with a clean credit history and a sound model, a facility request stands a real chance of being reviewed.
- Payment infrastructure evolution. Aani for retail transfers and Jaywan for card settlements are concrete instruments, not just marketing. As Jaywan spreads, the share of domestic card transactions inside the country will rise — typically that creates competitive pressure on acquiring fees.
- A benchmark for internal stress tests. If your financial model assumes a revenue or debt-service shock, the CBUAE regulatory stress test gives you a sense of how far, on average, the UAE banking system can absorb. That can be used as one of the benchmarks when planning a cash reserve.
The full Financial Stability Report 2025 is available on the CBUAE website under Financial Stability.
