Egypt Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) chair Mohamed Farid used a seminar with the Canadian Egyptian Business Council to set out the regulator’s development priorities for non-banking financial markets, with digital transformation and sustainability positioned as core levers to broaden access to investment, insurance and financing services. The remarks also recapped recent rule changes and ongoing workstreams affecting insurance, capital markets, non-banking finance providers and the organised voluntary carbon market. In insurance, the FRA pointed to the Unified Insurance Law No. 155 of 2024 and the requirement for insurers to raise minimum issued and paid-up capital in two phases over two years to strengthen financial soundness and capacity to underwrite larger risks, alongside expectations to invest in professional training and technology. Investment-related measures include rules governing investment by private insurance funds and by insurance and reinsurance companies in the capital market, and a requirement for private insurance funds to invest at least 5% of total assets in open-ended equity funds investing in shares listed on Egyptian exchanges. In capital markets, the FRA reported it had recently updated voluntary delisting rules to require 75% approval of those present at the general assembly and, where there is a controlling shareholder, an additional “majority of the minority” vote by shareholders not connected to the controlling shareholder. It also referenced Decisions 140 and 148 of 2024 on listing and delisting rules and amendments to the framework for listing and trading shares of special purpose acquisition companies, which it said led to the establishment of the first such company. For non-banking finance, the FRA stated that minimum capital is now EGP 75m for non-banking finance companies, with mortgage finance at EGP 100m, and that it has suspended acceptance of incorporation applications and preliminary approvals for firms seeking licences to conduct microfinance or consumer finance through traditional methods for one year, renewable. A market dialogue has also been launched to gather views ahead of applying Basel III-style solvency standards to non-banking finance companies. The FRA additionally described the organised voluntary carbon market launched in August 2024, noting that carbon credits are tradable financial instruments representing one tonne of CO2e and are issued after verification under internationally recognised methodologies by entities on the FRA’s accreditation list, with around 21 emissions-reduction projects registered and about 145,000 voluntary carbon credits recorded.

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