What protection do UAE rules give you when you buy life cover or a savings plan?

The Central Bank of the UAE’s instructions on life insurance and family takaful give you a cancellation window, written figures before you sign, and limits on what the seller is paid.¹ They apply to insurers, takaful companies, agents, brokers and banks that sell life policies, and to policies concluded after they came into force. The Central Bank’s rulebook dates them from 9 October 2019, and a 2020 amendment extended the start by six months from 16 April 2020.¹

How long do you have to change your mind?

At least 30 calendar days. The free-look period starts on the date the policy is issued, the date cover starts or the date you sign the policy documents, whichever comes first.¹

• The people who sold you the policy may not ask why you are cancelling.¹
• The insurer must refund the full premium. If it adjusts the refund to the value of the funds your money was invested in, you get gains as well as losses, with no bid-offer spread or other charge.¹
• The only deduction allowed is reasonable medical underwriting costs, with a receipt and report given to you. Charges for issuing the policy, financial underwriting or the cover you had during those days may not be deducted.¹

Insurers repeat the rule in their own documents. Sukoon’s key features document for Term Protect, for example, gives 30 days from the earliest of the same three dates and a refund less any medical examination fees.²

Work out your last day with the free-look deadline checker, and send any cancellation in writing before it.

What must you see before you sign?

An illustration, which is a written projection of your premiums, charges, surrender values and investment returns over the policy term.¹ The instructions require it to:

• show the life cover, cash value, fund value, maturity value and surrender value as separate figures, never combined;¹
• show premiums before charges and every value after charges, with no hidden charges;¹
• give at least two scenarios with different assumed returns, the highest gross rate capped at three-month EIBOR plus 4%;¹
• show the guaranteed and non-guaranteed parts separately, and the effect of all charges.¹

Two pages need your separate signature. The surrender charges and surrender value at the end of each year must be on a separate page, printed in red, not stapled to the policy.¹ A savings product whose protection is under 10% of its value, as worked out by the insurer’s actuary, must carry a bold red warning that “the product has a limited or no protection benefit”, with your signature under it.¹

The seller cannot sell you the product until you have signed every required document, and you must get a copy.¹ All documents you can be given must be available in Arabic and in another language you ask for.¹

Ask for the illustration and the red surrender page before you hand over any documents or money.

How much can the person selling you the policy be paid?

The instructions cap commission and say how it is paid.¹

First-year commission is capped at 50% of the annual premium or 50% of the total commission, whichever is less. The rest is paid in equal parts over the remaining years, and first-year commission can be clawed back from the seller for at least the first five years.¹ Fees paid to an adviser count as commission unless they are disclosed separately and you were fully aware of them at the start.¹ Any rebate from a fund manager belongs to you.¹

Ask the seller in writing how much they are paid on the policy and over how many years.

Can someone talk you into replacing a policy you already have?

Selling a policy that unnecessarily replaces one you hold, to earn more commission, is called churning, and it is banned.¹ A switch is allowed if you asked for it without being prompted and agreed in writing to the combined commission, or if the combined commission stays within the caps.¹

If an adviser suggests surrendering one plan to start another, ask for both illustrations and the surrender value of your current plan in writing first.

What happens after you buy?

The insurer must send you a policy account statement at least every six months.¹ Someone other than the seller must contact you to confirm you understand the policy conditions, maturity, surrender, cancellation and short-period schedule.¹ You are entitled to a revised illustration on request, or when you change the cover, premium, payment frequency or term.¹

Under the Civil Transactions Law in force from 1 June 2026, if you pay regular premiums you may end the contract at any time by written notice to the insurer, and you are then released from later premiums.³ What you get back depends on the policy’s surrender terms, which are in cancelling a savings plan.

Keep every statement, and compare each one with the illustration you signed.