The UAE Central Bank is seeking comments from experts on a draft regulation on loan-based Crowdfunding Platforms (CFPs), before it is approved and issued. The objective of the proposed regulation is to put in place a framework for licensing, regulating and monitoring loan-based CFPs and to establish standards that the Central Bank will expect them to follow. The new regulations shall apply to individuals – wherever they are based – engaged in loan-based CFP operations in the UAE, except in financial free zones. CFPs will be categorised according to their lending volume. Category 1, for example, constitutes CFPs of cumulative loans in a calendar year of above AED5,000, while category 2 will facilitate cumulative loans below AED5,000. Applicants wishing to undertake loan-based CFP activity must apply to the Central Bank for a licence and, if approved, provide a bank guarantee drawn in favour of the CB UAE and issued by a locally incorporated UAE bank of value equal to the required paid-up capital in addition to other requirements.