This is a facsimile of one of several articles published by Middle East Insurance Review during the consultation and drafting stage of the Unified Insurance Law.
MEIR published this article in July/August 2024 following the ratification of the Unified Insurance Law.
The modernisation of Egypt’s insurance sector began in October 2020, when the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) announced a comprehensive draft of the Unified Insurance Law. Aimed at aligning the local regulatory framework with international practices while elevating governance and risk management standards, this draft was the culmination of efforts that had been underway since 2018.
Following several rounds of extensive consultations and rigorous reviews, the Unified Insurance Law (No. 155 of 2024) entered into effect on 11 July 2024. It applies to insurance and reinsurance activities, and all related insurance services, professions, and activities.
From its inception, the new law fundamentally overhauled Egypt’s insurance landscape. It consolidated several fragmented, legacy laws into a single, cohesive framework divided into four main sections encompassing 220 articles. In addition, it codifies areas of insurance that were previously unregulated or operated in a gray area.
This unified text has brought about a structural shift in the industry—ranging from the strict licensing of brokerage firms to the strengthening of solvency frameworks, and even the issuance of the country’s first-ever framework for MGAs.
Highlighting this rapid pace of execution, FRA Chairman Islam Azzam stated during his opening address at the 52nd African Insurance Organisation (AIO) Conference in Cairo on 7 June 2026, that the regulator had issued approximately 80 executive decisions under the Unified Insurance Law over the previous two years.
These regulatory interventions can be categorised into two major pillars: the formalisation of newly regulated insurance areas, and structural enhancements designed to boost market capacity and industry governance.
- Newly formalised and regulated insurance areas
- Actuaries: The FRA issued a resolution concerning regulating the licensing, professional credentials, registration and practices of actuaries. The new rules prohibit insurance companies and private insurance funds from hiring actuaries other than those registered with the Authority, to ensure the quality of technical estimates related to the sector.
- Reinsurance: Published in the Official Gazette on 17 June 2026, the FRA’s decision on reinsurance requirements aims to enhance risk management efficiency and bolster corporate governance.
Under the new requirements, an insurer must prepare a reinsurance programme that is commensurate with the size of the company’s activities and capital, including acceptable risk limits, net retention and various insurance coverages. The insurer has to determine the maximum financial liability that it can bear as a result of a single risk or event.
- Managing General Agents (MGAs): The FRA issued Egypt’s first-ever regulatory framework for Managing General Agents (MGAs) in April 2026, which defines responsibilities more clearly, seeking to bolster reinsurance market performance and ensuring the sector remains responsive to international practical developments.
- Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs): For the first time, HMOs are formally recognised as risk-bearing entities. They are now subject to specific licensing, capital requirements, and supervisory oversight by the FRA.
- Third-Party Administrators (TPAs): Healthcare management companies (TPAs) are now a distinct, regulated category. While they do not bear underwriting risk, they must now comply with governance, data security, and operational standards set by the FRA when managing medical networks and claims.
- Microinsurance: The law codifies microinsurance as a specific category, enabling the development of affordable, low-limit policies tailored to low-income individuals and small-scale needs (e.g., agricultural loss, accidental death).
- Digital/InsurTech: The law explicitly legalises and regulates the electronic issuance and distribution of insurance policies, providing a legal basis for digital-only insurance products and InsurTech operations.
- Takaful: The statute provides a unified legal basis for Islamic insurance, ensuring that Shariah-compliant products are regulated consistently with conventional insurance under a single legislative umbrella.
- Professional and medical liability: The law mandates professional indemnity insurance for several professions, including actuaries, doctors, lawyers and accountants, to protect clients against professional negligence.
- Structural enhancements to market capacity
To support these new areas, the law introduced structural mechanisms to manage specific risks:
- Corporate governance: In October 2025, the FRA issued a decree introducing a rigid, binding corporate governance framework that has fundamentally changed how Egyptian insurance boards operate. Among several provisions, the decree bans the dual Chairman/CEO role, mandates that the board of directors include at least five non-executive members, two of whom must be independent and the composition must ensure adequate women’s representation. Insurance companies have to establish 10 specialised committees to cover areas such as risk management, compliance, internal audit, governance and anti-money laundering. Comprehensive annual governance reports must be published.
- Minimum capital requirements increased: The FRA says that the objective is to enhance the solvency of companies and improve their ability to insure greater risks driven by a strong capital base that contributes to improving the levels of financial stability of the insurance sector. The increase in capital, to be effected in phases, would also support efforts to increase levels of insurance coverage and enable insurance entities to develop their IT systems which helps them to provide the best possible service.
- Increased microinsurance coverage: The FRA raised the ceiling on coverage in microinsurance products by 25% to EGP312,500 ($6,250), in April 2025. The ceiling had last been raised to EGP250,000 (+25%) in 2024. The FRA said that “the higher ceiling fits within its strategy to develop insurance products and provide greater financial protection for owners of small and micro enterprises, to enhance their ability to face financial risks and support the sustainability of their businesses”.
- Insurance Pools: The law allows insurance companies to form mandatory or voluntary insurance pools to manage specialised or “national-level risks (e.g., catastrophe, large-scale industrial risks, or where reinsurance is difficult to obtain).
- Policyholders’ Protection Fund: A newly established independent legal entity designed to guarantee the rights of policyholders and beneficiaries in the event of an insurer’s insolvency or financial distress.
- Private insurance funds: Tighter governance to increase transparency and disclosure.
Tangible market growth and economic impact
The new legislative and regulatory framework has attracted new players to the Egyptian insurance market.
The FRA had granted six companies temporary licences to operate as TPAs as of 7 June. Four among them have applied for final licensing. Furthermore, the regulator gave the green light to two new companies specialising in microinsurance, with a third application under review. In addition, the FRA approved two companies to offer products using FinTech, covering the digital issuance of insurance policies via mobile applications, digital identity verification, Electronic Know Your Customer (e-KYC) procedures, and the electronic execution and registration of digital contracts. More than 10 other insurance companies have submitted applications to issue policies digitally via mobile platforms.
Propelled by the implementation of the Unified Insurance Law, the insurance industry achieved strong growth in 2025. According to FRA statistics, total insurance premiums rose to about EGP130.8bn ($2.5bn) in 2025, 22.5% higher than in 2024. This reflected real growth as Egypt’s annual urban inflation rate averaged approximately 20.4% in 2025. The total claims and benefits paid by insurance companies rose to EGP64.4bn in 2025, 38.2% more than in 2024. The financial data demonstrate a highly responsive market capable of meeting its expanding obligations under the new regulatory regime. M