How to open a business bank account in the UAE

A UAE company opens a business bank account by applying to a bank licensed by the Central Bank of the UAE with its trade licence, founding documents and details of its owners, managers and beneficial owners. The bank runs due diligence checks under the anti-money laundering law; for a low-risk SME with complete documents, Central Bank rules give it 3 business days to open the account.

Key takeaways

• Banks open accounts for businesses with a valid UAE licence, mainland or free zone, after checking the business, its owners and its signatories.
• Each bank sets its own document list, but it must give an SME the full list before providing the account and explain the stages and expected timeline in writing.
• For a low-risk SME with a complete application, the bank must open the account within 3 business days; a delay for another valid reason may not exceed 2 weeks.
• If a bank rejects an SME's application, it must give the reason in writing unless the reason relates to financial crime risks or the law prohibits disclosing it.
• A bank must acknowledge an SME's complaint within 2 business days and send a final answer within 30 business days, and a complaint it does not resolve can be escalated to Sanadak.

On this page 9 sections

Who can open a business bank account

Any business with a valid UAE licence can apply, whether it is licensed on the mainland or in a free zone. The bank then decides under its own risk policy, which the anti-money laundering law shapes. Since 13 September 2026, the Central Bank’s Small to Medium Sized Enterprises (SME) Customer Protection Regulation also sets rules for how banks and finance companies treat SME customers who apply.

Fair treatment when an account is opened

No discrimination by size, ownership nationality or age

CBUAE-licensed financial institutions must build anti-discrimination principles into their code of conduct so that, including when considering a bank account opening, they treat SME customers fairly regardless of size, income or profits, business growth, market standing, nationality of the ownership, years of presence and type of business activity, in line with the institution's money laundering, terrorism financing and proliferation financing risk appetite.

The last words of that rule matter: a bank can still decline a business that falls outside its appetite for money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing risk. What the regulation requires banks to avoid is rejecting an application on discriminatory grounds.

The regulation protects SME customers only, a group defined by headcount and revenue that includes sole proprietors:

Who counts as an SME

Micro / small / medium by sector, headcount and revenue

For CBUAE customer protection, an SME is a micro, small or medium business within the employee and turnover limits of Cabinet Resolution No. 22 of 2016: micro means up to 5 employees or revenue up to AED 3 million (trading), up to 9 employees or AED 3 million (manufacturing), up to 5 employees or AED 2 million (services); small means up to 50 employees or AED 50 million (trading), up to 100 employees or AED 50 million (manufacturing), up to 50 employees or AED 20 million (services); medium means up to 200 employees or AED 250 million (trading), up to 250 employees or AED 250 million (manufacturing), up to 200 employees or AED 200 million (services).

Mainland companies

A mainland company applies with the trade licence from its emirate’s licensing authority and the founding documents registered when it was set up. Setting up a mainland company covers how those documents come about, and the steps to start a business show where the bank account fits: after the licence, alongside visas and tax registration.

Free zone companies

A free zone company applies the same way, with the licence and registration documents issued by its free zone authority, and goes through the same checks. The Central Bank’s SME rules attach to the customer, not to where it is licensed. The differences between the two set-ups lie elsewhere, in where the company can trade, how it is taxed and what premises it needs; mainland or free zone compares them, and setting up a free zone company covers the licence.

Companies whose owners live outside the UAE can apply as well, but each bank sets its own conditions for them, for example on where signatories must live and whether they must attend in person; a business account for non-residents covers those conditions.

Sole establishments and freelancers

Because the regulation’s definition of an SME customer includes sole proprietors, a sole establishment, owned by one person, gets the same protections as a company. Freelancer and home-business licences, described in trade licence types, are licences too, and holders apply with them. Each bank decides which licence types and legal forms each of its business accounts accepts.

Documents banks ask for

There is no single national list: each bank sets its own, and the list grows with the risk the bank sees in the business. What does not vary is the bank’s duty to say what it needs at the start.

Document list, stages and timeline

Full document list; stages and timeline in writing

Before providing a product or service, including an account, a CBUAE-licensed financial institution must give the SME customer a comprehensive list of all documents and information it needs, explain in writing every stage of the process including the expected timeline, keep the customer informed of the application's status and tell it the final decision in a timely manner.

Article 4 of the regulation adds that banks must disclose their minimum documentary requirements for opening an account, and for ongoing due diligence, clearly and consistently. Under Article 3, every disclosure must be available in English and Arabic, and “in writing” includes electronic documents.

What every bank must collect about a company customer is set by the Executive Regulations of the anti-money laundering law:

What a bank must obtain about a company

25% ownership; company documents, managers and authorised persons

Under Cabinet Resolution No. (134) of 2025, the Executive Regulations of the AML law, a financial institution must identify a customer that is a legal person and verify it from reliable and independent sources, obtaining its name, legal form, memorandum of association, tax registration number if it is subject to corporate tax, registered office or principal place of business, articles of association and the names of its senior management; verify that anyone acting on its behalf is authorised and identify that person; understand the purpose and intended nature of the relationship, the nature of the business and its ownership and control structure; and identify as beneficial owner each natural person with a controlling ownership interest of 25% or more, failing that the person who controls it by other means, and failing that the person in senior management.

The table shows documents banks typically ask for and the reason behind each. It is a guide to what to expect; the bank’s own written list is the one that counts.

Company documents

The licence and founding documents tell the bank that the business exists, what it is licensed to do and how it is run. The company may also have to hold a register of its beneficial owners. Cabinet Decision No. 109 of 2023 requires legal persons licensed or registered in the UAE, including in the commercial free zones, to keep that register and to file it, with their register of partners or shareholders, with their registrar; companies in the financial free zones and companies wholly owned by the government are exempt. A bank will typically ask to see it.

Owners, managers and signatories

The bank identifies each person who owns the company, manages it or can operate the account, and checks that anyone acting for the company is authorised to do so, for example through a board resolution or a power of attorney. It usually asks for passports and, for people who live in the UAE, their Emirates ID. Which of these people must live in the UAE, and whether signatories must meet the bank in person, is a matter of each bank’s policy. Where a shareholder is itself a company, the bank asks for that company’s documents too and follows the chain up to the natural persons who own or control it.

Documents issued outside the UAE, such as a foreign parent company’s certificate of incorporation, may need to be attested before a bank accepts them. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs attests documents issued abroad through selected UAE missions abroad, and a business account for non-residents covers what banks ask of owners and documents from outside the UAE.

Evidence of the business and source of funds

A bank needs to understand what the business does and what will pass through the account, because the law requires it to identify the nature of the customer’s business and the purpose of the relationship. A new company might show a business plan, signed contracts, invoices or correspondence with customers and suppliers; an established one can add its accounts and bank statements.

“Source of funds” means where the money that first funds the account, and the money that later passes through it, comes from, such as the owners’ capital or payments from customers. “Source of wealth” is wider: what generated the customer’s overall net worth, for example the sale of an earlier business or an inheritance. Central Bank guidance lists both among the information banks collect at onboarding, and the evidence asked for rises with the risk: a customer’s own statement can be enough for a lower-risk customer, while a higher-risk one can be asked for bank statements or other documents.

Why banks check so much: due diligence and beneficial owners

The checks come from the law, not from each bank’s taste. Federal Decree by Law No. 10 of 2025, the UAE’s anti-money laundering law, repealed Federal Decree by Law No. 20 of 2018 and requires every financial institution to carry out customer due diligence, often called know your customer or KYC.

Customer due diligence under the AML law

In force from 14 October 2025

Federal Decree by Law No. (10) of 2025, in force from 14 October 2025, requires financial institutions to apply customer due diligence and continuous monitoring based on risk, including identifying and verifying the customer and its beneficial owner, the nature of its business and its ownership and control structure, and forbids opening or keeping accounts under anonymous, fictitious, alias or numbered names.

The law defines due diligence as identifying and verifying the customer and its beneficial owner, and identifying the nature of its business, the purpose of the business relationship and its ownership and control structure, with ongoing monitoring. The law ties the scope of the checks to risk, and Central Bank guidance tells banks to collect more information about a customer they see as higher risk.

A beneficial owner is the natural person who ultimately owns or controls the company. For the company’s own register the threshold is set by Cabinet Decision No. 109 of 2023, and the anti-money laundering Executive Regulations use the same 25% for a bank’s checks:

Beneficial owner threshold

25% of capital or votes

A company's beneficial owner is the natural person who ultimately owns or controls it through direct or indirect ownership of 25% or more of its capital or 25% or more of the voting rights, including through a chain of ownership, or who controls it by other means such as the right to appoint or dismiss most of its directors.

If no one is identified through ownership, the person who controls the company by other means is treated as its beneficial owner, and failing that, the person who holds a senior management position.

Worked example

Beneficial owners of a company with AED 200,000 of share capital

The company, its capital and the holdings are an illustration. Four people own its shares directly, each share carries one vote, and none of them holds shares for anyone else or controls the company in another way.

1. Owner A holds AED 80,000 of the capital: AED 80,000 ÷ AED 200,000 = 40%.
2. Owner B holds AED 50,000: AED 50,000 ÷ AED 200,000 = 25%.
3. Owner C holds AED 40,000: AED 40,000 ÷ AED 200,000 = 20%.
4. Owner D holds AED 30,000: AED 30,000 ÷ AED 200,000 = 15%.
5. Check: 40% + 25% + 20% + 15% = 100%.
6. The threshold is 25% or more, so A (40%) and B (exactly 25%) reach it; C and D do not.

Beneficial owners: A and B. The bank identifies and verifies both, and separately identifies the managers and every signatory, whether or not they own shares.

If owner A held the same shares through a holding company that A wholly owns, A would still be a beneficial owner, because the threshold counts ownership through a chain. If C had the right to appoint or dismiss most of the directors, C would count too, whatever the size of the shareholding.

Due diligence does not stop once the account is open. The law requires continuous monitoring, so banks review accounts and can ask for updated documents, for example when a passport or licence expires or when the activity on the account changes. Where applicable, the regulation bars the bank from charging a fee for work it must do to meet a legal requirement, such as updating identification details.

How long it takes

The Central Bank’s deadline applies only to SME customers that the bank assesses as presenting low money laundering and terrorist financing risk.

Account opening for a low-risk SME

3 business days (delay up to 2 weeks)

Under the CBUAE SME Customer Protection Regulation (Circular 2/2026, effective 13 September 2026), which applies to banks and finance companies licensed by the Central Bank, a bank must open a low-risk SME customer's account within 3 business days of receiving a complete application; if other valid reasons delay it, the delay may not exceed 2 weeks and the bank must explain it, and it may open the account with limited transactions meanwhile.

Limited transactions can mean a cap on the number of transactions, or no transfers, remittances or cheques, until the cause of the delay is resolved. A bank may accept money while the account is being opened, but it must block it until the opening requirements, including financial crime checks, are met, and tell the customer so in writing. Even an open account may not allow every type of transaction until the bank has finished its due diligence, including sanctions screening.

Opening the account step by step

The order below is typical; banks combine or reorder some steps.

1. Shortlist banks and account types. Banks offer different business accounts. The regulation requires a bank to present the reasonable options among its own products and bars it from concealing cheaper alternatives that may suit the customer.
2. Ask for the document list and the timeline. The bank must give an SME the full list before providing the account, explain the stages and expected timeline in writing and keep it informed of the application’s status.
3. Prepare the documents. This means current copies of the company documents, identity documents for every person the bank must know, and attestation for documents issued abroad where the bank asks for it.
4. Apply in a branch or online. The regulation expects banks to record account requests made through every channel, including branches, phone banking and websites. Central Bank guidance says checks on customers onboarded without meeting them must be at least as strict as face to face.
5. Answer due diligence questions. The bank may interview owners or signatories, ask follow-up questions about the business and its funds, or visit the premises.
6. Read the Key Facts Statement and fee schedule before signing. Both come before the contract, as explained below.
7. Activate the account. After approval the bank issues the account details and sets up online banking, cards and cheque books where offered. It also records the signatories and their powers, for example whether one signature is enough or two are needed together.
8. Keep the bank updated. When the licence is renewed, the owners change or a signatory leaves, the bank needs the new documents; trade licence renewal covers the licence side. The company must also update its own beneficial owner register when ownership changes.

Before the contract is signed, the bank must give a Key Facts Statement, a short plain-language summary of the account’s features and risks, and the customer must acknowledge receiving it. The duty on fees is wider:

Fees disclosed in full

Copy of the fee schedule; all fees disclosed

Under the CBUAE SME Customer Protection Regulation, banks and finance companies licensed by the Central Bank must have a transparent fee and pricing structure, disclose all fee components including third-party costs, and give SME customers clear information on all applicable fees, whether one-time or recurring and how often they recur, including a copy of the fee schedule.

Minimum balance requirements and charges differ between banks and between account types, and they appear in each bank’s schedule of charges; business account fees and minimum balances explains how to read one.

If the bank says no

The written reason

Reason for a rejection

Reason given in writing (with exceptions)

If a CBUAE-licensed financial institution rejects an SME customer's application for a product or service, it must give the reason for the rejection in writing, except where the reason relates to financial crime risks or disclosure is prohibited by law.

Because of the exception, some rejections come with no reason. Banks are also expected to keep a register of account applications, rejections and the reasons for them, and the report on it must go to senior management and the board at least quarterly and be available for regulatory examination on request.

Reapplying or applying elsewhere

A written reason shows what the decision turned on, such as a missing document or an ownership structure the bank could not verify. The business can supply what was missing and apply again, or apply to another bank. Each bank applies its own risk appetite, so one bank’s decision does not bind another, but every bank works under the same due diligence law.

Complaints and Sanadak

A complaint to the bank costs nothing, and the regulation sets the timetable for the bank’s answer:

Complaint deadlines

Acknowledge in 2 business days; answer in 30

Under the CBUAE SME Customer Protection Regulation, banks and finance companies licensed by the Central Bank must let SME customers complain easily and free of cost, acknowledge a complaint in writing within two business days with a reference number, send a final written response with reasons within 30 business days, and tell the customer how to escalate an unresolved complaint, including to the Ombudsman Unit (Sanadak).

The bank’s final response must say how to take an unresolved complaint further. How Sanadak takes on a complaint is covered in complaining about a bank to Sanadak (thecreditzone.ae).

What to compare before choosing a bank

Account terms differ more than the opening process does. Points worth setting side by side:

• Key Facts Statement and fee schedule: account fees, transfer charges and any charge for falling below a minimum or average balance.
• Online and app banking: what can be done without visiting a branch, and how several users and approvals work.
• Signatory rules: single or joint signing, and limits for each user.
• Payments: local and international transfer limits, and whether accounts in other currencies are available.
• Cards and cheque books: whether they are offered and on what terms.
• Branch access: where branches are, for cash deposits or services that need a visit.

For a business that is paid or pays in US dollars, the AED-USD peg explains the fixed link between the two currencies, and the dollar and dirham converter works at the official pegged rate.

Some banks offer business accounts that are opened and run mainly through an app. Where the bank is licensed by the Central Bank, the same SME rules and the same due diligence law apply; digital business banking covers how these accounts work.

Terms can change after the account is open, but not without notice:

Notice of changes to terms and fees

60 calendar days

Banks and other CBUAE-licensed financial institutions must give SME customers at least 60 calendar days' written notice before changing the terms and conditions of a product or service, including fees, and must give a Key Facts Statement before providing a product.

The regulation also protects a business that later wants to move. Banks must not put barriers in the way of switching, beyond reasonable costs disclosed in advance, and must provide the account information needed for a transfer to another bank without additional fees. Other topics on accounts and finance are in Business banking guides.