The regulatory trends for Africa’s insurance outlook – 2026
Christine Rodrigues, Partner, Bowmans
Despite the many jurisdictions within the continent, there are common trends shaping Africa’s insurance markets. Here are key developments to watch in 2026.
Strengthening of prudential supervision
Regulators are tasked with improving the resilience and credibility of the sector thereby creating customer trust and increasing market penetration. With the increase in regulation across the continent, many African jurisdictions have started reviewing their prudential requirements, in an effort to move towards risk‑based supervision. The intention is to apply global best practices but make them relevant to the local market. As a result of this development solvency requirements for insurers will change. We are also likely to see tighter regulation around the governance of insurers. Namibia and Nigeria are examples of where regulatory reform has begun and may result in market consolidation, as weaker players could find it difficult to meet capital requirements. Alternatively, we may see more insurer liquidations.
Strengthening of market conduct supervision
Prudential reform is often accompanied by a focus on market conduct, particularly reform around consumer protection, fairness, and trust building. This kind of regulation focuses on ensuring greater disclosure, monitoring claims outcomes, tracking complaints, and analysing loss ratios. A product may be profitable for an insurer due to a low loss ratio; however, this may not be attributable to excellent underwriting and could instead result from poor conduct. For example, mis‑selling or invalid claim rejections can result in low loss ratios. This kind of conduct is a recurring barrier to market penetration.
For example, the Insurance Regulatory Authority of Kenya has published the Insurance (Market Conduct) Guidelines 2025 for public comment. These guidelines look at embedding fair customer outcomes into culture, governance, and business strategies, including appropriate product design, clear communication, and fair complaints handling. Ghana’s National Insurance Commission has also put forward a market‑conduct framework built around treating‑customers‑fairly (TCF) principles, requiring insurers to demonstrate that customer interests are central to their corporate culture.
Benchmarking
African regulators are increasingly benchmarking reforms to international supervisory standards such as those developed by the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS). They understand that group supervision of insurance groups is key for maintaining stability not only at a local level but also for the continent as a whole. The African Insurance Organisation (AIO) has been instrumental in facilitating collaboration amongst regulators to harmonise supervisory approaches across borders. This has led to the establishment of the Organisation of African Insurance Supervisory Authorities (OAISA), which comprises regulators from about 24 African countries. The aim is to deepen cooperation and promote the harmonisation of supervisory standards. Morocco’s Autorité de Contrôle des Assurances et de la Prévoyance Sociale (ACAPS) has been particularly active in aligning its framework with IAIS Insurance Core Principles, serving as a model for other African jurisdictions.
Modernising reforms to manage innovation risk
Over the past few years, digital distribution and platforms have increased. Along with this, Regulators have recognised the need to update their frameworks to better supervise new methods of product distribution and bring third parties not previously subject to insurance regulation into the regulatory framework. Digital distribution has the benefit of amplifying financial inclusion but, if not properly regulated, can also result in consumer harm. Regulation ensures fair customer outcomes and market resilience. For example, regulation in Rwanda has created a national sandbox that includes insurers and insurtech companies to test innovative products under controlled supervision. In Tanzania, microinsurance regulation is designed to be proportionate to the business being conducted.
Africa is rising
Regulation of the insurance industry is on regulators’ agendas across Africa and is maturing fast: TCF is being embedded, risk based prudential standards are being strengthened, and proportionate rules for digital and climate risks, tailored to local markets via microinsurance, sandboxes, and OAISA cooperation, are being adopted. Expectations are rising: those who invest in strong governance, fair customer outcomes, and proactive regulatory engagement will win; laggards risk enforcement and loss of market access.
