UAE Credit Bureau Aims to Finish Credit Data Link With Kuwait by End of 2026

Marwan Lutfi, director general of Etihad Credit Bureau, told Al Bayan that the first phase will cover credit information on companies and businesses. Institutions in the Kuwaiti market will be able to view credit data on companies operating in the UAE, giving them a clearer picture of those firms' financial standing and their ability to meet their obligations. Once that phase is complete, the bureau will look at extending the shared system to individuals, which would allow wider exchange of credit information between the two countries later on.

The link matters for lenders and companies working across Gulf borders. A bank in one GCC state assessing a borrower based in another currently has limited access to that borrower's credit history. Lutfi said more cross-border investment and financing in the region makes shared credit data increasingly useful for lending decisions. He described the GCC as the main focus of the bureau's work with counterparts outside the UAE.

He said a full Gulf-wide link would require several stages of technical and operational studies, closer cooperation between the institutions involved, and common frameworks to govern how data is exchanged. The bureau has already begun practical work through cooperation with Kuwait's banking sector, he said, but he did not give a timetable for other GCC states.

Lutfi said default levels in the UAE market are falling, according to the bureau's monitoring, and credited the standards set by the national credit scoring system and the greater transparency it has brought to customers' financial records. He did not give figures.

He also said credit reports and scores are no longer used only by banks and finance companies. Service and commercial businesses now draw on them, as do payment systems, to assess risk before offering financing or services.

The next milestone is the end of 2026, when the bureau expects the company-level link with Kuwait to be fully operational. A decision on whether to bring in individual consumers will follow.