How to Become an Insurance Consultant in the UAE

The Insurance Consultancy     which is one of the insurance related professions in the UAE – was organized according to the Ministerial Resolution No.(23) of 1985, that was before the Board of Directors    Decision No. (12) Of 2018 Concerning the Regulation on Licensing and Registration of Insurance Consultants and Organization of their Operations, which issued on 20 May 2018, it canceled the aforementioned decision and gave six months to the consultants who are registered with the Insurance Authority – at the time of the provision – to rectify their position.

It divided the insurance consultants into two parts: a natural person and a corporate person, one of the most important conditions for licensing the natural person – with the authority     is that the candidate must holding, as a minimum:

A. A Doctorate Degree in Insurance, Law, Finance, or subjects related to insurance, or a fellowship designation (FCII) from the Chartered Insurance Institute in London or equivalent institutes accredited by the Authority, which grants similar certificates along with practical experience of not less than (5) years for Nationals and (10) years for non-Nationals.

B. a Bachelors or Master   s degree in Insurance, Law, Finance or subjects related to insurance or Associateship designation (ACII) from the Chartered Insurance Institute in London or equivalent institutes accredited by the Authority, along with practical experience of not less than (7) years for Nationals and (15) years for non-Nationals.

Whereas the capital of the corporate person is required to be owned by Nationals not less than 51%, and that the responsible manager must fulfill the same conditions as the natural person mentioned above.

Perhaps the most important services provided by Insurance Consultant are:

• Study the legal, technical and financial aspects of the insurance or reinsurance operations presented to him and give an opinion on them based on the most recent laws and regulations, and based on the common insurance principles governing these operations.
• Study and evaluate the risks to be covered by insurance and prepare the basic elements of insurance coverage appropriate to those risks.
• Give a statement of advisory opinion concerning the claims related to the insurance of persons and fund accumulation operations, along with property and liabilities insurance when requested by the client.

It should be noted that the aforementioned decision prohibited the Insurance Consultant from working in another profession related to insurance, such as actuarial or insurance brokerage.

The Resolution also banned the insurance companies from dealing with any person – as an Insurance Consultant – unless he is licensed and registered in the Register of the Insurance Authority.

One thing, the Insurance Consultant – whose application was accepted – must submit to the Authority a professional indemnity insurance policy with a sum insured of 1.5 million dirhams (the corporate person must be 3 million dirhams), provided that the amount of the deductible does not exceed (30,000) dirhams, and the insurance policy shall be in the name of the Insurance Consultant.

Moreover, the Insurance Consultant may be licensed to practice the profession for all types of insurance or reinsurance or in a specific type or types according to their qualifications and experience, and he is entitled to request the addition of one or more branches of insurance or reinsurance to the branch listed in his registration.

Finally, article 17 of the decision spoke about violations and penalties in case of breaching laws/ regulations and instructions, or failure to perform the duties.