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

This report examines how insurance regulators in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have adapted their supervisory processes and communication strategies in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It identifies a tension between providing regulatory relief to insurers and maintaining prudential soundness and consumer protection. The document highlights opportunities for regulators to drive long-term market development through digitalisation, the adoption of supervisory technology (suptech), and the responsible consolidation of fragmented insurance markets.

• Insurance regulators in sub-Saharan Africa have faced a trade-off between granting regulatory relief to insurers struggling with the pandemic and maintaining strict monitoring to protect consumers.
• The pandemic forced regulators to rapidly shift to remote operations, leading to internal challenges regarding hardware availability, server access, data security, and internet affordability.
• To provide relief, several regulators extended deadlines for statutory returns, audits, and financial statements, while others extended deadlines for licensing renewals or regulatory levy payments.
• Regulators have implemented various measures to ensure fair treatment of customers, including advising insurers to offer premium holidays, extend grace periods for policy lapses, and avoid rejecting claims due to COVID-19 related reporting delays.
• There is significant regulatory uncertainty regarding the legality of electronic signatures and remote customer due diligence (CDD), which hinders the adoption of digital contracting and remote onboarding.
• The pandemic has created an opportunity for regulators to adopt regulatory technology (regtech) and supervisory technology (suptech) to move from backward-looking monitoring to predictive and proactive supervision.
• COVID-19 is likely to trigger market consolidation in fragmented SSA markets where small, inefficient insurers relied on unsustainable pricing; regulators must manage this process to ensure policyholder protection.
• Insurers' financial stability is threatened by a combination of decreasing premium collections, persistent operational expenses, and lower investment income due to falling interest rates and real estate defaults.
• Regulators have differed on whether COVID-19 claims should be covered; for example, the FSCA in South Africa ruled that insurers cannot use national lockdowns as a reason to reject business interruption claims if the policy covers 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} }