Heads Up on January Deadline From Axco

Axco warns that new registration rules and approval lists could complicate the year’s largest renewal date, with Egypt’s deadline set to shut out unapproved brokers weeks before 1 January.

Insurance professionals preparing for the 1 January 2027 renewals face a cluster of regulatory deadlines that could restrict access to markets and add costs in the middle of negotiations, according to Axco, the leading supplier of global insurance market information and data.

Axco’s analysis of more than 170 insurance markets shows regulators are tightening control of non-admitted business and require the registration of foreign reinsurers and brokers. Many of these changes take effect just before or on 1 January, the largest renewal date of the year for reinsurance and much of commercial insurance.

The most pressing deadline is in Egypt. The Egyptian Financial Regulatory Authority has issued new rules under which local insurers and reinsurers may only work with foreign reinsurance brokers on its approved list. Libya now requires foreign reinsurers to register and the transition period for this change ends when cover renews. Brazil, which passed a new Insurance Act last year, will apply two sets of changes in the first week of January. A new standardised framework for property and casualty insurance applies to all newly issued or renewed policies from 5 January 2027. It requires insurers to register individually negotiated or customised policy conditions with the regulator. New rules for reinsurers take effect on 2 January 2027.

Axco advises underwriters, brokers, risk managers and insurance buyers to check the rules in every market on their renewal schedule now, rather than in December. Key areas to review include non-admitted rules, registration of foreign reinsurers and brokers, taxes and levies, compulsory covers and cash-before-cover requirements.

Ali Smedley, Senior Insurance Analyst at Axco, said: “The theme this year has been one of tightening control. Even where there is no new legislation, regulators are enforcing existing non-admitted rules more strictly, and more of them now require foreign reinsurers and brokers to register.

“A change spotted in October can be planned for, but one spotted in December is a problem in the middle of a negotiation. Egypt’s deadline falls at the end of October. Unless it is extended again, reinsurance brokers that are not on the approved list will effectively be shut out right before the 1 January renewals.”