FRA Chairman Delivered a Keynote Speech at CAISEC’25 Cybersecurity Conference

During his keynote speech at the fourth edition of the Caisec25 Information Security and Cybersecurity Conference and Exhibition, Dr. Mohamed Farid, Chairman of the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), underscored the paramount importance of cybersecurity in fostering the stability and effectiveness of Egypt's non-banking financial sector. Dr. Farid emphasized the FRA's continuous efforts to create a secure and stable environment that protects customer data and enhances the sector's contribution to the national economy.

Comprehensive Vision from Egyptian Ministers
The two-day conference saw participation from several prominent ministers, including Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar (Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health), Dr. Amr Talaat (Minister of Communications and Information Technology), Ahmed Kajouk (Minister of Finance), Dr. Ayman Ashour (Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research), Mohamed Abdel Latif (Minister of Education and Technical Education), and Dr. Sherif Farouk (Minister of Supply and Internal Trade). This high-level attendance reflects the state's commitment to advancing cybersecurity and digital transformation across various sectors.

The FRA's Role in Data Protection and Market Stability
The FRA Chairman explained that as the regulator of the non-banking financial sector (including the capital market, insurance activities, and non-banking financing activities), the authority places significant importance on cybersecurity. This is achieved by developing policies and systems that ensure the protection of customer data and market stability—a pivotal role for any financial regulatory body. He noted that the FRA aims to create a secure data environment and stable markets for non-banking financial institutions to enhance their contribution to the economy.

Addressing Digital Transformation and AI Challenges
Dr. Farid stressed that the regulatory framework developed by the FRA primarily considers cyberattacks and database breaches as the new battlefield, necessitating increased cybersecurity levels. This comes amid the accelerating pace of digital transformation, which creates new opportunities but also increasing cyber threats. He emphasized the need to develop policies and work systems that bolster FinTech governance levels and ensure non-banking financial institutions' proper use of technology to enhance market stability.Regarding artificial intelligence, the FRA Chairman highlighted the rapid and revolutionary development in this field. He underscored the importance of enhancing institutions' and markets' resilience to recovery, especially since progress is always accompanied by risks. Preparedness levels must be raised to ensure a flexible non-banking financial sector capable of leveraging technological advancements and managing their risks more efficiently and effectively.

Investing in Human Capital and the Legislative Framework
Dr. Farid clarified that technological capacity development must go hand-in-hand with improving the efficiency of human cadres to achieve desired goals and bridge the information gap. He emphasized that the human element is always paramount in companies' business models, so cybersecurity specialists must provide extensive, diverse, and continuous training for personnel.He noted that such training has become essential after the recent acceleration in the digitization of non-banking financial transactions. This follows the FRA's issuance of a package of executive decisions, enforcing Law No. 5 of 2022, which provides the regulatory and legislative framework for regulating and developing the use of technology in non-banking financial activities and services.

These decisions include:

• Decision No. 139 of 2023: Pertaining to technological infrastructure, information systems, and protection and security measures necessary for using FinTech in non-banking financial activities.
• Decision No. 140 of 2023: This is the first regulatory decision of its kind, detailing requirements for digital identity, digital contracts, digital registries, areas of FinTech use in non-banking financial activities, and compliance requirements, with a focus on electronic customer identification.
• Decision No. 141 of 2023: Concerning the outsourcing register in FinTech fields for non-banking financial activities, covering companies authorized to provide electronic customer identification services and contract registries to financial companies operating in the field.
• As a result of these efforts, 16 institutions and entities have so far obtained various FinTech licenses from the FRA and are currently leading digital transformation operations. Dr. Farid explained that around 110 institutions and entities comply with the FRA's cybersecurity requirements. However, there is still a long way to go, as the total number of companies and institutions under the FRA's supervision in various activities and markets exceeds 3,500.

Dr. Farid concluded by noting that four companies currently offer outsourcing services, with high hopes for increasing this number to dozens. These companies are registered in a special registry with the FRA and conduct electronic identification, verification, and authentication, electronic customer identification, electronic conclusion of non-banking financial product contracts, and electronic registration, storage, and retrieval from digital registries.