The state of lending in the Middle East

Lending across the Middle East is expanding rapidly. Credit guarantee schemes, open finance regulation and national SME financing targets have made access to credit an instrument of economic policy, and the numbers follow: UAE loan portfolios grew 9.1% year on year, Saudi banks posted record profits, and the GCC personal loans market is forecast to compound at 31% through 2035.

Borrowers have moved faster than the institutions serving them. They apply through an app, share financial data in seconds, and expect a decision in hours. Behind the interface, most lending still runs on disconnected systems, manual verification and compliance checks that sit outside underwriting. The front end has modernised. What sits behind it has not.

To understand how wide that gap has become, Stitch partnered with IBS Intelligence on independent research across six Middle Eastern markets, surveying more than 100 consumers on their borrowing experience and interviewing senior lending executives at banks across the region.

The findings are specific. Half of borrowers expect funds instantly or same-day. Fewer than half describe their last application as fully digital. A third abandoned one before completing it, and one in five has already taken credit from a fintech or BNPL provider instead. This whitepaper sets out where the lending journey breaks down, what it costs, and why architecture is becoming the difference between lenders who capture that demand and lenders who watch it leave.