DR Congo’s insurance regulator and the operator of the country’s single-window trade platform signed an agreement on March 6 aimed at closing one of the biggest gaps in the Congolese insurance market: the widespread failure to insure imported goods.

The agreement between the Autorité de régulation et de contrôle des assurances (ARCA) and the Société d’exploitation du Guichet unique intégral du commerce extérieur (SEGUCE RDC) establishes a formal and secure data-sharing framework, strengthens coordination between relevant departments and integrates the insurance certificate into the digital documentation system for foreign trade, according to SEGUCE. The aim is twofold: to improve the traceability of import operations and to enforce insurance obligations under Congolese law.

For ARCA, the priority is ensuring that imported goods are covered by insurers licensed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as required by the insurance code. Alain Kanyinda, director general of the regulatory authority, tied the move to the fight against premium evasion and to oversight of mandatory insurance, particularly coverage for import cargo. The objective, he indicated, is not merely to verify certificates but also to keep a portion of those premiums within the domestic insurance market.

The agreement builds on earlier work. In March 2023, ARCA and the DGDA customs authority had already formalized the interconnection between the national insurance certificate issuance system, known as SYNECA, and the Sydonia customs platform. That initiative was designed to tighten controls on mandatory insurance and prevent irregular certificates from being used in import operations. The deal with SEGUCE adds another layer to that architecture.

More than $60 million in annual premiums

Behind the regulatory logic lies a market ambition. The Congolese insurance sector, effectively liberalized since 2019, has grown from roughly $70 million to more than $350 million in 2024, according to ARCA. The regulator estimates it could surpass $1 billion within the next decade. But that trajectory depends largely on the ability to capture segments that remain poorly controlled, chief among them insurance on imports.

The ARCA-SEGUCE agreement is, in that context, an attempt to retain premiums within the domestic market. By fully embedding insurance within the digital documentation chain for foreign trade, the authorities are making it harder to use coverage purchased outside the licensed market in the DRC. For insurers operating in the Congolese market, the stakes are significant: import cargo flows represent a growth opportunity in a country where insurance penetration remains below 1% of GDP, despite what the regulator describes as substantial potential.

Using the $26.7 billion in goods imports recorded by the Banque centrale du Congo in 2024 as a baseline, insurance on import cargo potentially represents more than $60 million in annual premiums, and possibly above $100 million depending on the categories of goods and the rates applied by licensed insurers.

Whether the agreement delivers on that potential will depend on execution. The ARCA-DGDA experience shows that signing a protocol does not always produce immediate effects on the ground. The success of the SEGUCE deal will hinge on whether both institutions can make the data exchanges genuinely operational, ensure the validity of insurance certificates and integrate the requirement into importers’ procedures without friction.

Pierre Mukoko & Ronsard Luabeya