Major Changes To Bancassurance Under New IA Instructions.

Co-authored by Nour Gemayel

On May 23rd, 2018, the United Arab Emirates ("UAE") Insurance Authority ("IA") issued Decision No. (13) of 2018 regulating bancassurance, or insurance policy marketing through Banks in the UAE (the "Decision").

Prior to the release of this Decision, in the absence of any regulations for bancassurance, insurance companies were able to uncontrollably increase their market share while relying on the banks' existing customer base. Insurers were able to easily market insurance policies through banks without the need for any sort of licensing and/or registration from the IA.

Accordingly, foreign insurance companies could easily access the UAE insurance market through banks, and the contractual relationship and/or activities of said insurance companies and their partner banks were in no way regulated or supervised.