الهيئة العامة للرقابة المالية

FRA Chairman Extends Condolences to Families of Middle Ring Road Victims, Orders Immediate Compensation – Saturday 31 October 2026

Dr. Islam Azzam , FRA Chairman expressed his profound condolences following a fatal crash between a microbus and a heavy truck on the Middle Ring Road today, which left 10 dead and more than 24 injured. He extended his sympathies to the victims’ families and wished a full, speedy recovery to those injured.

In light of his close follow-up on the repercussions of this painful accident, Dr. Islam Azzam has directed the Egyptian Compulsory Motor Insurance Pool (ECMIP) to immediately take all necessary measures to expedite the payout of due compensations to the families of the victims and the injured.

FRA Chairman further directed prompt communication with the families of the deceased and the injured to facilitate procedures and accelerate the disbursement of compensations. These amounts stand at EGP 100,000 per fatality. Meanwhile, injury payouts will be determined based on the disability percentage certified by the Medical Commission, in accordance with the Unified Insurance Law No. 155 of 2024. Settlements will be fast-tracked for eligible beneficiaries upon the receipt of completed accident documentation and verification of the compulsory insurance policy’s validity.

In swift response to FRA Chairman’s directives, the Executive Director of the Egyptian Compulsory Motor Insurance Pool (ECMIP) confirmed that the Pool’s representatives will actively contact the victims’ families to finalize the required paperwork, paving the way for the disbursement of compensations at the earliest possible time.

FRA Concludes Inaugural Short-Selling Training Program  for Brokerages Ahead of Market Launch –  Tuesday 27 October 2026

• Program Goals: Designed to familiarize market participants with the new regulatory framework, technical requirements and rights and obligations of each party

Dr. Islam Azzam , FRA Chairman:

• This training is core to building capacity and technical readiness ahead of the short-selling rollout.
• Passing this program is mandatory for brokerage firms seeking a short-selling license.

Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), chaired by Dr. Islam Azzam, has concluded its inaugural training program to prepare brokerage firms and financial institutions for the new regulatory and operational framework governing short selling (Securities Borrowing and Lending for short sales), issued under Board Resolution No. 155 of 2026.

Executed by the Financial Services Institute (FSI)— FRA training arm—and delivered by industry experts Hanan Hamdy and Amr El-Saoudi, the program drew more than 100 participants representing 42 brokerage firms and financial institutions, qualifying them to serve as designated compliance and execution officers for short-selling transactions.

Under the new regulatory decree, any brokerage firm seeking authorization to offer short selling must employ at least one designated short-selling compliance officer. Candidates must pass FRA-mandated examinations and training modules to gain comprehensive practical knowledge of the regulatory framework, clarify operational roles across market participants, and fulfill technical licensing requirements.

To achieve these objectives, the curriculum focused heavily on key execution mechanisms, collateral management, coverage ratio monitoring, mark-to-market settlements, closing open positions, returning borrowed securities and technical compliance controls.

The program delivered a detailed walkthrough of the new regulatory framework for short selling across 13 core pillars: the general framework of the mechanism, the new Central Lending System, operating conditions and controls, the rights and obligations of both brokerage firms and borrowing clients, and the role of Misr for Central Clearing, Depository and Registry (MCDR). It also covered securities lending and borrowing caps and ratios, role of custodians, securities availability and collateral management, closure of borrowing positions and return of securities. In addition to corporate actions and associated shareholder benefits, direct contracts between brokerages and lending or borrowing clients, technical and regulatory compliance requirements, and standard contract model between brokerages and borrowing clients recently issued under FRA Chairman Decree No. 3350 of 2026.

Commenting on the rollout, Dr. Islam Azzam, FRA Chairman noted that the training program marks a significant operational step toward launching short selling in the Egyptian market as the Authority completes regulatory guidelines and conducts live simulations to fine-tune the Central Lending System managed by MCDR. He emphasized that building staff capacity is not merely a licensing prerequisite for brokerage firms, but a foundational pillar of FRA’s broader awareness strategy to ensure a seamless market launch that achieves its intended economic impact on the capital market.

Ahead of the official rollout, FRA released a comprehensive video hosted by Dr. Islam Azzam across its official website, social media and YouTube channels. The video detailed the mechanics, obligations and risk profiles for lenders, borrowers, brokerages, MCDR, and custodians, while highlighting the real-time functionality of the new Central Lending System which enables borrowers to view live lending offers aligned with their investment strategies and allows lenders full visibility over registered market offers.

Additionally, the Authority published educational content clarifying the distinction between short selling and margin trading, emphasizing how combining both mechanisms enhances pricing efficiency and market liquidity on the Egyptian Exchange (EGX).

It is worth mentioning that short seller profits when a borrowed security’s price falls as anticipated, allowing the investor to repurchase shares at a lower price, lock in the profit margin minus borrowing costs, and return the securities to the lender. Conversely, if the security’s price rises, the short seller must repurchase the shares at a higher price to limit losses, incurring a financial loss plus borrowing fees upon returning the securities. In both scenarios, the lending investor receives a yield combining the risk-free rate and a lending premium, while retaining all shareholder privileges and corporate action benefits.

FRA Holds Training Program for CAPMAS Staff Under Joint Cooperation Protocol – Sunday 25 October 2026

Dr. Islam Azzam – FRA Chairman:

• Training Serves as Key Pillar for Protocol Goals: Enhancing Report Quality and Indicator Accuracy Across Non-Banking Financial Activities

Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), through its training arm, the Financial Services Institute (FSI), has launched a comprehensive training program for employees of the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS). The five-day initiative focuses on financial data analysis, non-banking financial activity indicators, and advanced statistical extraction to support national economic decision-making. The program forms part of the operational roadmap under a strategic cooperation protocol signed between FRA and CAPMAS to unify statistical metrics and optimize their use in drafting reports and shaping economic policies.

FRA Chairman Dr. Islam Azzam stated that training is vital to realizing the protocol’s goals, particularly streamlining the exchange and availability of statistical metrics. This initiative aims to elevate data accuracy in official reporting, improve statistical workflows, curb duplicate information requests to businesses, reduce administrative overhead and deliver robust analytics for monitoring economic performance and future growth trends.

The program was inaugurated by Mr. Mohamed El-Sayyad and Dr. Tarek Seif FRA Vice Chairman as part of ongoing institutional cooperation between FRA and CAPMAS. The initiative aims to foster technical knowledge sharing and build institutional capacity for analyzing financial data and extracting statistical indicators that reflect developments across FRA-regulated sectors.

During the opening ceremony, Mr. Mohamed El-Sayyad welcomed CAPMAS trainees, emphasizing the crucial role of accurate data and statistics in analyzing non-banking financial activities—particularly capital markets and exchanges. He noted that robust metrics are essential for tracking market performance, measuring activity indicators and supporting objective decision-making. Mr. El-Sayyad also highlighted the establishment and evolving mandate of FRA, outlining its regulatory scope which balances market stability with the protection of participant rights.

For his part, Dr. Tarek Seif reviewed the key legislation and regulatory frameworks governing the Authority’s operations, along with international accounting standards and their importance in enhancing financial disclosure, transparency and data comparability. Dr. Seif also highlighted the pivotal role of Egypt’s insurance sector, stressing that reliable statistical data and metrics are vital for evaluating sector performance, monitoring activity growth and driving efficient supervision, strategic planning and policy formulation.

Spanning five days, the program covered the regulatory mandate of the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), the entities under its supervision and the role of non-banking financial activities in supporting the national economy. It introduced key non-banking financing activities, including financial leasing, factoring, consumer finance, mortgage finance, and SME and microfinance.

A full module focused on capital markets, covering brokerage firms, custodians, asset managers, the Egyptian Exchange (EGX), and clearing and settlement operations. The session provided hands-on training in key financial metrics—including liquidity, profitability, solvency, and operational efficiency—backed by practical case studies analyzing published brokerage data.

Another full day focused on the insurance sector, examining company structures, reinsurance, brokerage activities, and insurance products. Training centered on analyzing data related to premiums, claims, technical reserves, provisions, investments and underwriting surplus, complemented by practical application extracting relevant metrics from insurance company disclosures.

The curriculum also covered financial statement analysis for insurance and brokerage firms, familiarizing trainees with the components of balance sheets, income statements, cash flow statements, and supplementary notes. Participants analyzed revenue streams, commissions, financial assets, liabilities and client balances using real-world published financial statements.

The program concluded with a specialized module on financial and statistical analysis, covering horizontal and vertical analysis techniques, financial ratios (liquidity, profitability, activity, and capital structure), growth rates, sector averages, and performance benchmarks. It also addressed data quality verification, consistency checks, comparability, error correction and generation of statistical tables, sectoral indicators, periodic reports and databases.

The implementation of this program reflects the commitment of both FRA and CAPMAS to activate their cooperation protocol, foster database integration, and enhance staff technical capabilities. Ultimately, the initiative aims to generate reliable, up-to-date statistical indicators and elevate non-banking financial analysis while upholding the highest standards of accuracy, confidentiality and data protection in service of economic planning and decision-making.