Egypt Edition 
MENA+ Edition 
UAE Edition 
Saudi Edition 
AI + Innovation (MENA) 
Infrastructure 
Share
Read Full Issue 
The Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) is keeping the door shut on new consumer finance and microfinance lenders for another year, extending its freeze on new license applications through the traditional route to 11 October 2027, according to an FRA statement. The ban also covers NGOs seeking to run microfinance programs. A separate, renewable freeze on fintech-based consumer finance licenses remains in place until 25 February 2027.
The FRA first froze licensing in October 2024 after granting 10 microfinance and 15 consumer finance licenses in two years, and this time it cites financial stability, market needs, and the quality of services. By our reading, the regulator wants a tighter field of sturdier lenders while the business keeps growing fast: consumer finance volumes were up 57% y-o-y to EGP 96.3 bn across 48 licensed companies by end-2025, according to FRA data we reported in May.
In other FRA news
#1- Misr Life Ins. has become the first life ins’er in Egypt to get a fintech license from the FRA, according to a statement. The company says years of tech investment went into a platform that now runs the whole customer journey online, from choosing and pricing a policy to paying premiums and settling claims, with AI used to assess risk and speed up service. The license comes as the ins’er, which holds 22% of Egypt’s life ins. market, according to the Sovereign Fund of Egypt, prepares to float up to 20% of its shares on the EGX in an IPO led by EFG Hermes.
#2- The ins. sector’s deadline for meeting the capital rules in decision 196 of 2024 has been extended to July 2027, the end of the Unified Ins. Law’s third transition year, according to an FRA statement. This gives ins’ers and managing general agents (MGAs) another three months to sign up to its new MGA registration framework. A companion decision, 200 of 2026, does the same for risk assessors and loss adjusters. This is not the first reprieve: ins. auxiliary firms had until 31 October to meet their capital minimums, and 82 of 132 had done so by then.
