Dr Islam Azzam has been appointed, by presidential decree, as the new Chairman of the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), which supervises the insurance and non-banking financial sectors.
Dr Azzam is the sixth person to assume the chair of the Authority since its establishment in 2009. He succeeds Dr Mohamed Farid, who stepped down from the position when he was appointed as Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade in February 2026.
Dr Azzam has extensive experience in non-banking financial markets, regulation, and supervision. He served as Chairman of the Egyptian Exchange during the second half of 2025, after having served as FRA Vice Chairman from January 2021 to August 2025, during which time he oversaw the capital market, insurance, and non-banking financial activities sectors.
In those years at the FRA, he contributed to developing the regulatory framework for the insurance sector following the issuance of the Unified Insurance Law in 2024. He participated in dialogues with stakeholders regarding executive decisions supporting the law, including increasing the minimum capital of insurance companies.
He has also previously held several leadership positions, including Advisor to the Chairman of the Real Estate Finance Authority (2007–2009), Assistant Chairman of the Capital Market Authority (2003–2005), and Managing Director of the Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Fund Company “Bedaya”.
He sat on the boards of directors of a number of economic and financial institutions, including the Board of Trustees of the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Unit, the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Arab Real Estate Bank, and the Egyptian Centre for Voluntary Arbitration, in addition to being a board member such as Misr Holding Insurance Company, Dakahlia Sugar Company, the Egyptian Company for Tourist Resorts, and Shams Housing and Development Company.
Dr Azzam worked as a Professor of Finance at the American University in Cairo, and headed its graduate finance department from 2005 to 2021.
He has a PhD in Economics from the University of California, Irvine in 2003 in Econometrics, Economic Forecasting and Monetary Policy, a Diploma in Real Estate Finance from the University of Pennsylvania, a Master's degree in Economics from the University of California, Irvine, another Master's degree in Economics from the American University in Cairo, and a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University.