Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates — The United Arab Emirates has placed first out of 42 markets on how well its financial system helps small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) grow and succeed, with a score of 96.4 in the 2026 Global Financial Inclusion Index.
Principal Financial Group compiled the index with the Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr), scoring each market on the support that governments, employers and the financial system give to financial inclusion. On the full index, the UAE came 21st.
Charles Brooke, Senior Managing Director and Head of Middle East, Central Asia and Africa at Principal Asset Management, said the UAE’s first-place ranking for the financial system’s role in enabling SME growth and success reflects the strength of the country’s financial ecosystem in supporting businesses.
Employers also put the UAE near the top of the table. The country came seventh for employer support with 68.5 points, against a global average of 65.7. It placed fourth for the financial guidance and support that employers offer staff, fifth for employer pay initiatives and ninth for insurance plans provided through employers.
The Gulf went against a global decline in scores for the financial system as an enabler of SME growth and of business confidence, according to the 2026 report, with both indicators strengthening in its markets. Saudi Arabia came second for SME support with 95.2 points, and the two neighbors placed fourth and fifth for general business confidence after gains of five to seven points.
The SME result sits inside a wider financial system pillar where the UAE's standing is more modest. The country ranked 22nd on that pillar, two places higher than a year earlier, and the improvement lifted its overall rank by one place to 21st, with an overall score of 54.8. It was 19th for government support.
That pillar also measures access to credit and capital, bank account ownership, real-time transaction volumes, the quality of local fintech companies and protection rights for borrowers and lenders. A first place on one indicator may therefore do little to move a market up the pillar as a whole.
Every Middle Eastern market in the index improved its overall rank. Israel climbed four places to 12th and Saudi Arabia three places to 27th. The report said government support, up 4.7 points across the region, drove this year's rise, whereas last year's gains came from the financial system.
This edition also tried to identify which markets could lead financial technology in the years ahead, judging the priority each one gives to fintech and to digital financial infrastructure. It weighed national targets that can be measured, funding commitments and implementation plans, along with digital public infrastructure and how far artificial intelligence is being built into financial services.
That analysis groups the UAE with South Korea and Taiwan in a cohort it calls Quantum Leapers, described in the report as markets already making fast fintech and inclusion gains whose national strategies may not be comprehensive enough to sustain that progress. The UAE scored 12 out of a possible 20 for its fintech strategy, level with South Korea and the U.K.
Saudi Arabia scored the full 20 and is one of five Next-Gen Leaders, alongside Colombia, Hong Kong, India and the U.K., which the report says could become the fintech leaders of tomorrow if they carry out their national strategies effectively.
On payments, the report places the UAE with Indonesia, Ghana and Mexico in a group where real-time transactions are growing strongly while cash use is still rising. It cautioned that looking only at instant-payment volumes in these markets risks overstating how much they add to broader financial inclusion.
Across all 42 markets, the global score climbed to 52.0 out of 100 from 49.4 in 2025, the highest since the index began in 2022. The report credits digitalization with speeding up progress: the financial system pillar gained 4.4 points, more than twice the 2.0-point rise in government support, and improved in 32 markets.
Employer support moved the other way, falling 2.9 points to 65.7 and declining in 83% of markets. Singapore kept first place overall for a fifth year in a row, with 82.3 points.
The SME ranking follows the UAE's fifth straight year as the most supportive economy for starting a business among the 53 covered by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2025/2026 report.
Survey respondents in the Gulf also rate their financial systems well. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are now among the top five markets for overall perception of financial inclusion, and the UAE ranks fifth for perceived financial system support.
