UAE Tops Global Index for Financial System Support to SMEs

The UAE gives small and medium-sized enterprises more support through its financial system than any other market in the 2026 Global Financial Inclusion Index, scoring 96.4 points in that category and taking first place outright.

Principal Financial Group and the Centre for Economics and Business Research produce the index. It rates more than 40 markets, scoring each of them separately on what governments do, what employers do and what the financial system itself provides before combining the three into a single figure.

On the headline measure the UAE sits 21st, with 54.8 points.

Its employer score is stronger. The country finished seventh on 68.5 points, just under three points clear of the global average of 65.7. Within that category it came fourth for the financial guidance and support employers give staff, fifth for pay initiatives and ninth for insurance plans arranged through work.

The research also set out to establish which markets are positioned to lead in fintech. It examined how economies signal priority for fintech and digital financial infrastructure through measurable targets, funding commitments and delivery plans, and weighed digital public infrastructure and the use of artificial intelligence in financial services.

Globally, financial inclusion reached 52 out of 100, the highest level since the index began. Financial system support was the largest single contributor to that gain, and the report credits digitalisation with speeding progress.

Two UAE results point in different directions, and the distance between them is the interesting part. First place for financial system support describes the supply side of finance: the rules, infrastructure and institutions that let lenders and payment providers reach small firms. The 21st place overall folds employer and government measures into the same number, so a market can lead on one pillar and still land mid-table on the composite. For the UAE, the reading is that the plumbing around SME finance is the strongest part of its inclusion record, while its employer offer, seventh in the world, sits comfortably above average without reaching the top.

SME finance is where inclusion gaps tend to be widest, because smaller firms rarely carry the collateral or the credit history that larger borrowers use, which makes the framework around lending decisive.

The fintech questions are forward-looking rather than a scorecard of current adoption. They matter because digital channels are the mechanism the report identifies behind the global improvement: targets, funding commitments and delivery plans are the commitments that later surface as access.

What 96.4 points measures is the framework, not the queue at the bank. The next edition will show whether the rest of the system moves with it.