New FRA Decrees on Insurance Brokerage Activities and Policyholders’ Meetings

On November 1, 2023, the Financial Regulatory Authority (“FRA”) issued two decrees, Decree No. 215 of 2023, amending FRA Decree No. 23 of 2014 regarding the rules governing engaging in insurance brokerage activities (“Decree No. 215”) and Decree No. 216 of 2023, amending FRA Decree No. 69 of 2014 regarding the rules and procedures with respect to persons listed under the Executive Regulations of the Capital Markets Law (“Decree No. 216”).

Whereby Decree No. 215 amended FRA Decree No. 23 of 2014 by obligating insurance brokers to keep all covenants and documents relating to the insurance company it works for and by expanding the obligation from not only receiving amounts or cheques to being any amounts in cash from clients on account of document fees or installments, except within the limits prescribed for by the law regulating the use of non-cash payment methods and its executive regulations with additional requirements of supplying any collected amounts within a specific time period to the insurance company it works for. Decree No. 215 also introduced further prohibitions on insurance brokers regarding the collection of fees and other amounts from their clients and requirements regarding non-cash payment methods.

Furthermore, Decree No. 216 amended FRA Decree No. 69 of 2014 by introducing further requirements with respect to the copy of the minutes of the policyholders’ group meeting as constituting part of the required documents for obtaining the FRA’s approval to deal with fund’s documents, including, inter alia, the attendance of the policyholders who own half the number of fund documents.