Emirates NBD for UAE Business Banking

How this bank fits a business

From a business banking perspective, Emirates NBD is a strong mainstream option for companies that need practical coverage rather than a narrow specialist proposition. Its public business pages highlight accounts, packages, businessONLINE, payments, collections, trade related capabilities and digital application paths. That makes it especially relevant for companies that want a dependable everyday banking setup, access to digital operations and a bank that can support both basic and more developed operating needs over time.

Opening a business account with Emirates NBD

Emirates NBD sells business banking as a ladder of packages, and publishes the required average balance and the penalty for missing it at every step. The figures below are from the Emirates NBD Business Banking Schedule of Charges and include VAT, the same basis as the fee table above on this page. Package terms change, so confirm the current ones on the bank's own page before you decide.

• General Proprietor (sole establishments): AED 50,000 minimum monthly average balance, no monthly maintenance fee, AED 262.50 a month if the balance is not maintained (as of August 2026).
• Prime: AED 50,000 minimum monthly average balance, AED 103.95 monthly maintenance fee, AED 157.50 a month if the balance is not maintained (as of August 2026).
• Preferred: AED 200,000 minimum monthly average balance, no maintenance fee, AED 315 if not maintained, with a dedicated relationship manager (as of August 2026).
• Prestige and Platinum: AED 500,000 and AED 3,500,000 minimum monthly average balance, with AED 787.50 and AED 1,575 respectively if the balance is not maintained (as of August 2026).

What that means in practice. The choice at the bottom of the ladder is the real one: General Proprietor and Prime both ask for AED 50,000 on average, and charge nothing, or AED 103.95 a month, to hold it. A business that can genuinely keep AED 50,000 in the account pays very little to bank here; one that cannot pays the fall-below fee in every month it misses the mark, and that fee is the real price of the account. It is a decision about the company's working capital rather than about the bank. Emirates NBD does not publish an approval timeline for these packages, and approval depends on the bank's own review of the company, its owners and its expected transactions.

Source: the Emirates NBD Business Banking Schedule of Charges, read 10 August 2026, alongside the business banking packages page. For the shortlist rather than one bank, see UAE business bank accounts for small businesses compared, or get help with opening the account.

Liv: the digital brand that runs on this licence

People searching for a "Liv bank" account in the UAE end up here for a reason. Liv is not a separate bank. Liv's own site states that "Liv is a brand owned by Emirates NBD (P.J.S.C)", alongside the line "Emirates NBD Bank (P.J.S.C) is licensed by the Central Bank of the UAE". Liv holds no licence of its own: it does not appear anywhere in the Central Bank of the UAE register of licensed banks, which lists 63 institutions as of June 2026, while Emirates NBD appears there under licence 01.01.01.003.1963.02. Everything offered under the Liv name therefore sits on the licence described on this page.

What that means for a company. Liv is a personal banking proposition. Its published product range covers current and savings accounts, deposits, cards, personal loans and insurance, and it publishes no business banking product at all. A company that wants app based banking from this group uses the Emirates NBD business layer described above, not Liv. If a fully digital business account is the requirement, the separately licensed digital banks are Wio Bank and Zand Bank.

Source: liv.me and the CB Register as of June 2026, both read 11 August 2026.