The Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) has drawn up an integrated regulatory framework for licensing life or P&C microinsurance companies.
The regulator is keen to develop insurance inclusion mechanisms and expand the scope of financial protection to targeted groups.
Insurers wishing to offer microinsurance services have to submit a request for the Authority’s “No objection” to present a microinsurance proposal to shareholders. The FRA stipulates that companies must obtain the approval of the Shariah Supervisory Committee in cases where they plan to engage in Shariah-compliant microinsurance.
In addition, the FRA also mandates the preparation of due diligence reports covering financial, technical, legal and tax aspects that are approved by specialised consultants and the board of directors. A technical and economic feasibility study of the company and the insurance branches that an insurer intends to operate is to be submitted to the regulator. The insurer must also present a detailed five-year work plan, covering market development, adding new products, developing existing products, the use of technology in operational processes and the establishment of clear policies for governance, internal control and training.
Where insurers wish to convert their current insurance licence to a microinsurance licence, they have to address through certain procedures the status of existing insurance policies that are incompatible with the types and branches of insurance to be covered under the microinsurance licence.
These procedures include the companies’ complete and final discharge from its obligations for all existing policies on the date of amendment, the transfer of those policies to another insurance company, and the continuation of the validity of those policies with a commitment to liquidating them within a period not exceeding one year from the date of the conversion of the insurance licence, provided that the accounts for those policies are separated into independent accounts. Insurers also have to prepare a plan to resolve any accumulated losses on the date of the licence conversion and to meet minimum capital requirements.