The Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) has issued regulations covering the digital issuance and distribution of insurance policies by insurance companies and brokers.
Under Resolution No. 199 of 2025, an insurance company may, after obtaining the Authority's approval, issue insurance policies digitally through the company's information systems. The company's database has to be linked to the Authority's database. The insurance policies may be printed directly by the insured.
Insurance companies wishing to issue and distribute their policies digitally are required to submit an application to the Authority, accompanied by a statement of the procedures the company will follow to issue and distribute insurance policies digitally, including fulfilling all insurance requirements for issuing those policies. The company must also inform the customer of the insurance policy and its terms in writing and through an introductory video, and provide digital verification that the customer has read and accepted all the terms and conditions of the policy and the risks associated with it.
Premium payments
The regulation says that premiums due by customers to insurance companies for policies issued and distributed digitally must be paid directly into the insurance company's accounts through point-of-sale machines delivered to the marketing and distribution entity, or through any non-cash payment method owned by the company, or through electronic payment methods, including direct debit from bank accounts or bank payment cards.
Any entity contracted by an insurance company to market and distribute its policies is prohibited from collecting fees, insurance premiums, or other amounts from customers by any means that results in adding those amounts to its own accounts.
Distribution
Insurance companies are required to adhere to the terms of the contract between the insurance company and the marketing and distribution entity, the terms of enabling the customer to request the policy directly, the minimum data and instructions that must be displayed on the digital screen when requesting the policy, and the terms of the policy that must be disclosed and included in the printed policy document.
The marketing and distribution entity may be limited to entering the customer's basic data through the digital link, and it may not make any changes, whether by adding or deleting, to the policy terms except through the insurance company itself and under its oversight.
The insurance company is committed to digitally verifying the validity of the national ID number, the ownership of the mobile phone number, and the extent to which it is included in the money laundering and prevention of actions lists, each time the client signs a policy with the company. The client pledges to inform the company immediately if any of the information they have provided to the company changes.
The insurance company is to maintain a call centre to serve customers of digital distribution of insurance policies, respond to their inquiries, and receive their complaints. The printed copy of the policy must include the specified telephone number and email address for contacting the aforementioned call centre.
Insurance companies, which intend to market and distribute their policies through a third party, are required to obtain the Authority's approval to issue and distribute the policies digitally.
The marketing and distribution entity must also be one of the entities approved for this purpose, namely digital insurance brokers registered with the Authority, banks registered with the Central Bank of Egypt, Nasser Social Bank, the National Postal Authority, airlines, telecommunications companies, or online stores, in addition to other distribution channels stipulated in the executive regulations for issuing and distributing microinsurance policies electronically.
Digital insurance brokers
Separately, the FRA issued regulations (Decision No. 198 of 2025) governing digital insurance brokerage activities. Companies licensed by the Authority to conduct insurance brokerage activities are required to obtain the Authority's approval to conduct their business digitally.
The Authority must also be provided with a business plan for digital insurance brokerage operations, which must be approved by the company's board of directors and include the insurance companies with which the digital insurance broker intends to contract.
Brokers have to identify the services and products that will be provided digitally to customers, while pledging to adhere to cyber security requirements.
Digital platform
They are to provide the FRA with a live demonstration of their digital platform and the services provided through it, and to provide the Authority with the results of stress and vulnerability tests on that platform.
Regarding the technical requirements for linking with insurance companies, the processes of issuing insurance offers, submitting insurance applications, and issuing insurance policies must be instantaneous, through electronic interfaces between the digital insurance broker's digital platform and the insurance company's IT systems.
The digital insurance broker is also obligated to ensure that the insurance company for which it brokers has prepared its IT infrastructure to enable the exchange of information and real-time digital communication.
The decision reviewed the obligations of the digital insurance broker, including disclosure on the digital platform of the data related to the license issued to him to practice the activity, as well as the Authority’s approval for it to conduct the brokerage business digitally. In addition, the broker must disclose on the digital platform the nature of the services provided to customers through the platform, while preparing the appropriate and necessary declarations for the customer’s review and approval before issuing the insurance policy, as well as preparing a list of the insurance companies with which it is linked digitally on the digital platform.
The broker is barred from collecting fees, insurance premiums, or other amounts from clients by any means that would result in adding those amounts to its own accounts.