Three real estate platforms seek FRA licensing for investment funds

Daily News Egypt

3 days ago

The Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) announced that three real estate share-selling platforms—Nawy, SAFE (a subsidiary of Madinet Masr for Housing and Development), and Saqr, the owner of Farida—have formally initiated procedures to regularise their operations under Egypt's non-banking financial framework.
Each platform has begun establishing two entities: one to launch a real estate investment fund, and another to obtain the necessary licences for promotion, underwriting, and fund management activities.
In a statement, the FRA reaffirmed its commitment to supporting innovative startups and entrepreneurs, as part of its broader strategy to foster financial market stability and protect all stakeholders. The announcement follows a series of recent consultations between the authority and representatives from the real estate development sector and digital platforms offering fractional real estate sales to the public.
During these meetings, the FRA outlined its regulatory vision for the sector, noting that the real estate fund model provides the most appropriate legal and operational framework for these platforms. This approach supports greater transparency, investor protection, and structured capital mobilisation, while helping diversify funding sources in the property market.
The authority emphasised that the move comes as part of a wider initiative launched to enhance discipline and legal compliance in non-banking financial markets. This initiative was prompted by the FRA's monitoring of online platforms and social media pages inviting public investments in real estate shares or offering non-banking financial services without proper authorisation, in violation of financial regulations.
In response, the FRA initiated a dialogue with several of these platforms, holding technical and legal workshops to explain the required regulatory and legislative standards. These efforts resulted in the current wave of voluntary compliance and licensing requests. The authority has also begun publishing a regularly updated 'negative list' of unlicensed platforms and services operating outside the law.
The FRA welcomed the constructive response from these companies, viewing it as a clear sign of growing awareness about the importance of legal compliance and the benefits of operating under a well-regulated framework. Such compliance, it noted, is critical for ensuring transparent, secure, and trustworthy services that protect investors and support market integrity.
The authority concluded by reiterating its commitment to an open-door policy for any company seeking to validate or regularise its business model. It encouraged further engagement with the FRA to support the ongoing development of Egypt's non-banking financial sector, especially in innovative and fast-evolving areas like digital real estate investment.