Amid evolving global economic conditions, the Emirates Development Bank (EDB) highlighted its unique perspective on financing national development, SME resilience, and the evolving treasury landscape during its participation at the ACT Middle East Treasury Summit 2024.
The financing market is currently experiencing a period of adjustment in light of tightening liquidity, high interest rates, and greater risk aversion from traditional lenders. This landscape is particularly challenging for small and medium size businesses that are already facing financing gaps.
Against this backdrop, the EDB underscored the need for innovative financing solutions to ensure continued access to financing to drive innovation and SME growth.
Bridging the UAE’s financing gap
As the UAE’s only development bank, EDB reaffirmed its commitment to bridging the financing gap. Moreover, it emphasized the importance of financing businesses in sectors of strategic importance to the UAE’s economic diversification agenda.
The bank provides financial and non-financial support to businesses of all sizes including start-ups, SMEs and corporates. The bank prioritizes businesses in the advanced technology, food security, healthcare, renewables, and manufacturing sectors.
During the summit, the bank noted its patient debt approach including long-tenor financing and competitive pricing. This approach seeks to support projects with high developmental impact.
EDB also employs a proprietary ‘Development Impact Scorecard’ to assess the broader economic impact of projects. This measure ensures their alignment with national priorities.
AED30 billion in financing by 2026
In an earlier statement, the bank revealed that it aims to provide financing worth AED30 billion by 2026. This financing targets the support of approximately 13,500 companies operating in the five priority sectors.
On the sidelines of the ‘Make it in the Emirates Forum’ earlier this year, the bank allocated AED5 billion in financing for industrial projects in 2024 as part of its commitment to empowering the capabilities of advanced industries and enhancing local value addition.
Partnerships to further support SME financing
Emirates Development Bank places great focus on its commitment to partnerships and collaborations. So far, the bank has established agreements with 11 major commercial banks in the UAE to offer partial guarantees of up to 50 percent to SMEs.
During the summit, Tariq Fancy, EVP, financial market and acting chief of treasury & investments at EDB, emphasized the importance of SMEs in national development and highlighted EDB’s solutions. This includes loan programs with flexible, long-term financing options, and financial literacy through initiatives like The Business Lab. The bank also offers SMEs user-friendly banking tools, making it easier for them to secure financing and thrive.
He also underlined the importance of collaboration with commercial banks and the role of credit guarantees and co-lending in supporting SME resilience.
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