Egypt: Regulator keen for insurers to digitise
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Dec 2019
The Egyptian Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) is currently planning to increase financial inclusion in the country through digital applications and electronic issuance of insurance policies. The regulator also wants to allow insurers to deal with their customers through mobile applications.
The adoption of the new insurance law, which has been finalised by the FRA and will be debated by lawmakers, will increase the role and effectiveness of digital transformation, said local media reports citing insurance expert Mohammed Al-Maghrabi.
Mr Al-Maghrabi said the FRA has taken effective steps towards digital transformation in the insurance industry – in coordination with the Insurance Federation of Egypt (IFE) – to increase reliance on technology to provide regulatory services to the market on the one hand and to develop ways of marketing insurance products and prevent practices harmful to the market on the other hand.
He added that there are many criteria to be met by insurers to be able to transform their operations digitally. These standards include the need for insurers to use modern and advanced IT systems and keep pace with the technological systems used by international insurers.
Insurers also have to maintain electronic databases to provide policy issuance, premium collection and compensation services quickly and flexibly to ensure customer satisfaction and confidence in the services provided to them. Ease of data entry and speed and compatibility with other technologies are important too to meet the needs of customers. M