How are insurance regulators in sub-Saharan Africa being affected by, and responding to, COVID-19?

The report examines the impact of COVID-19 on insurance regulators across sub-Saharan Africa, noting a shift toward remote supervision and a balancing act between providing regulatory relief and maintaining prudential soundness. It highlights that while the pandemic disrupted operations and exacerbated existing market vulnerabilities—such as high expense ratios and fragmented competition—it also created opportunities for digitalisation, the adoption of regtech and suptech, and responsible market consolidation to enhance long-term efficiency and consumer protection.

• Insurance regulators in sub-Saharan Africa have had to balance providing regulatory relief to insurers with the need to monitor market vulnerabilities to protect consumers.
• The pandemic forced a rapid transition to remote supervisory operations, leading some regulators to explore virtual on-site inspections and electronic document submission.
• Regulatory uncertainty regarding the legality of electronic signatures and remote customer due diligence (CDD) remains a significant barrier to the digitalisation of insurance sales.
• To provide relief, several regulators extended deadlines for annual financial statements, audits, and licensing renewals, including authorities in South Africa, Uganda, Eswatini, Rwanda, and Botswana.
• Prudential concerns have led to varied responses: Zambia's PIA required stress tests on liquidity and solvency, while Uganda's IRA paused shareholder dividend payments to maintain capital capacity.
• There is a significant risk of market consolidation in the medium term as COVID-19 exacerbates the vulnerability of already inefficient, small insurers.
• Insurers' profitability is threatened by a combination of decreasing premium collections, persistent operational expenses, and falling investment income due to lower interest rates and real estate defaults.
• The report identifies the adoption of regulatory technology (regtech) and supervisory technology (suptech) as a key opportunity to shift monitoring from a backward-looking to a predictive process.
• The FSCA in South Africa ruled that insurers cannot use national lockdowns as a reason to reject business interruption claims if the policy contains wording regarding contagious diseases.

APA

Beyers, N., Scribante, K., & Gray, J. (2020). How are insurance regulators in sub-Saharan Africa being affected by, and responding to, COVID-19? FSD Africa. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Insurance-regulators-COVID-19-28.08.20.pdf

Chicago

Beyers, Nichola, Karien Scribante, and Jeremy Gray. How are insurance regulators in sub-Saharan Africa being affected by, and responding to, COVID-19? FSD Africa, 2020. https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Insurance-regulators-COVID-19-28.08.20.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Beyers |first1=Nichola |last2=Scribante |first2=Karien |last3=Gray |first3=Jeremy |title=How are insurance regulators in sub-Saharan Africa being affected by, and responding to, COVID-19? |publisher=FSD Africa |date=August 2020 |url=https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Insurance-regulators-COVID-19-28.08.20.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{beyers2020how, author = {Beyers, Nichola and Scribante, Karien and Gray, Jeremy}, title = {{How are insurance regulators in sub-Saharan Africa being affected by, and responding to, COVID-19?}}, institution = {FSD Africa}, year = {2020}, month = aug, url = {https://fsdafrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Insurance-regulators-COVID-19-28.08.20.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }