On the 3rd of April, 2016, the Egyptian Financial Supervisory Authority (EFSA) has successfully hosted a first-of-its-kind training programme on Inclusive Insurance in the region. Around 28 insurance supervisors, representing 9 Jurisdictions from the Middle East and Sub-Saharan Africa, converged in Cairo, Egypt for five days to participate in the training program.

The training module is created on the basis of the IAIS Application paper on the regulation and supervision of inclusive insurance markets. Interactive tools and methodologies are used to build the capacities of insurance supervisors in the region on such themes as financial inclusion, innovations in products and distribution, and the challenges facing the expansion of access to inclusive insurance. Additionally, supervisors had the chance to benefit from several case studies which explored the experiences of microinsurance initiatives in Ghana and Morocco, and microtakaful experience from Bank Negara Malaysia. Furthermore, to ensure that lessons learned during the training are put into practice upon their return home, participants were asked to work on action plans to tackle specific challenges with regards to inclusive insurance in their home jurisdictions.

One of the participants in the training program has indicated that “The program was very resourceful and I look forward to attending more of these programs and regularly interacting with organizers from my home country”

MFMR hosted a reception dinner on the night of the training program for all participants which was attended by GIZ’s Egypt country director Dr Andreas Kuck and EFSA’s chairman Mr Sherif Samy who welcomed the participants and reinforced the value of this training towards having an inclusive financial market in Egypt. The event was jointly organized by the GIZ Programme MFMR, the Toronto Centre, the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), the Access to insurance Initiative (A2ii) and EFSA.

By Noheir Khairy and Basem Elsebaie