The State of Lending in the Middle East

Borrowers have moved on. Has lending infrastructure kept up?

For 50% of borrowers, “same-day” means more than a lending decision – they expect the money in their account that day. Only 20% actually experienced it.

The gap is becoming commercially important. 74% of borrowers would consider switching to a digital-first lender offering 24-hour approval at a comparable rate, while one in five has already borrowed from a fintech or BNPL provider.

Produced in partnership with Stitch, the whitepaper draws on research with 100+ consumers across six Middle Eastern markets – Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the UAE – alongside insights from lending executives. The findings point to a clear problem: the constraint is increasingly behind the digital experience, not in it. Fragmented systems, disconnected data and manual processes can slow underwriting, decisioning and disbursement even when the customer journey looks digital.

The next generation of lending will require more than a better front end. It will require modern lending infrastructure, intelligent decisioning and AI-ready architecture – from origination and underwriting to servicing and collections. The question is no longer whether lending should be digital. It is whether the infrastructure can deliver on the digital promise.

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