Lebanon resets the bank guarantee for insurance intermediaries: twenty thousand dollars, rising to fifty thousand in three years
Decision No. 192/L.M.D, published in the Official Gazette, has redetermined the value and conditions of the guarantee required from insurance intermediaries. For intermediaries the guarantee is twenty thousand dollars, rising by ten thousand a year to fifty thousand at the end of the third year. Those already licensed have until 31 December 2026 to comply.
Decision No. 192/L.M.D, signed by the Minister of Economy and Trade, was published in the Official Gazette of 16 July 2026, issue 30. Its subject is the determination of the value and conditions of the guarantee required from insurance intermediaries.
The decision separates two groups. The first consists of delegates working for the account and under the responsibility of insurance entities or brokerage entities. For them the guarantee is set at three thousand five hundred United States dollars per delegate, deposited for each delegate so long as the number working at one entity does not exceed twenty-eight.
Where the number of delegates exceeds twenty-eight but does not exceed seventy-one, the entity may instead deposit a single aggregate guarantee in its own name of one hundred thousand United States dollars. Where licensed delegates exceed seventy-one, the aggregate guarantee rises to two hundred and fifty thousand United States dollars. In both cases the sum must cover the civil liability arising from any of the delegates working for the entity.
The second group comprises the remaining insurance intermediaries, whether natural or legal persons. For them the bank guarantee is set at twenty thousand United States dollars. That amount doubles gradually over three years: thirty thousand one year after the date of deposit, forty thousand after two years, and fifty thousand after three.
The decision also governs the nature of the guarantee. It must be frozen in favour of the Ministry of Economy and Trade — Insurance Control Commission, renewed automatically without any request being needed, and must be a first demand guarantee, meaning the bank is obliged to pay upon mere notification by the Ministry.
Entities depositing an aggregate guarantee must attach to the bank guarantee letter a nominal table listing all licensed delegates working for their account. The table is to be kept updated and any amendment notified to the Commission according to the rules it sets.
Intermediaries licensed before the decision were given a transition period. They have until 31 December 2026 to replace the bank guarantee already deposited in favour of the Ministry with a new one of the value set out in the decision. Intermediaries operating at the date of the decision must comply within the stated deadlines, failing which the laws and regulations in force apply.
The decision follows two earlier steps. Decision No. 11/L.M.D of 13 January 2026 on the same subject was withdrawn by Decision No. 181/L.M.D of 25 June 2026. The opinion of the State Council, No. 250/2025-2026 of 1 July 2026, was then obtained, and the new decision was signed in Beirut on 9 July 2026.
The legal basis cited is articles 38 and 39 of the law on the organisation of insurance entities enacted by Decree No. 9812 of 4 May 1968, together with article 9 of Decree No. 1205 of 24 April 1978. The decision was signed by Minister Dr. Amer Bisat.
The decision further states that the bank guarantee deposited under it remains in force until a decision is issued determining the value and conditions of insurance cover. In other words, today's guarantee regime stands until a professional indemnity insurance regime replaces it.
