In these challenging economic times, some businesses are struggling to cope with financial pressures and financiers are concerned with their customers’ ability to service their financing arrangements. An effective insolvency regime is, therefore, an important element of financial system stability. The statutory insolvency regime in the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) has often been regarded as under-developed and remains largely untested. This article seeks to examine the application and the effectiveness of the insolvency regime in the UAE and consider the consequences of, and primary issues surrounding, insolvency from the perspective of commercial debtors and creditors.