INSAAF LAW GROUP
Expertise  /  Financial Services

The practice that grew up with the regulator.

Financial services, payments and regulation. We advised Visa's Somali entry in the regime's first year — and were engaged by the Central Bank to review its own founding statute.
RESPONSIBLE PARTNERS
Abdirizak Mustaf Ahmed
Practice lead · former Central Bank legal adviser
Hamza I. Abdullahi
Legislation & regulatory design
Discuss a licensing matter
THE REGULATED MARKET — PER THE CENTRAL BANK'S OWN REGISTERS, EARLY 2026
Statute base renewed May 2025
15
licensed commercial banks
17
money-transfer businesses
6
mobile-money providers
21
microfinance institutions
4
takaful operators — first licensed Jan 2026
HOW WE HELP
Six lines of work, one thread: we advise on a regime we understand from the drafting side.
FINANCIAL SERVICES  /  SOMALI-LAW OPINIONS
The opinion your lender or board can rely on.
A reasoned opinion in your firm's format, assumptions stated plainly. Where the law is young, we say so.
COVERS
Enforceability & capacity opinions for financings
Regulatory perimeter — which licence you need
Security & reliance questions for lenders and DFIs
Recently delivered for Capital One.
Request an opinion scope →
FINANCIAL SERVICES  /  LICENSING
The perimeter question, answered before the application.
Which Central Bank category — if any — your model touches, and an application that anticipates the regulator's questions.
COVERS
CBS licence categories & applications
Perimeter analysis, entity by entity
Financial Institutions Law 2025
Advised Visa's Somali market entry.
Discuss licensing →
FINANCIAL SERVICES  /  AML/CFT
Global controls first. Somalia mapping second.
The 2025 AML/CFT framework mapped onto group programmes — beneficial ownership, reporting, screening, the local file.
COVERS
Programme mapping to the 2025 law
Beneficial ownership & reporting
Regulator & FRC engagement
Compliance architecture built into market entries.
Discuss a regulatory matter →
FINANCIAL SERVICES  /  PAYMENTS & FINTECH
A partner's licence is not contagious.
Product-flow analysis for payments and fintech entrants — who holds value, who onboards, and what each entity needs.
COVERS
Payments & mobile-money perimeter
Bank-partnership structures
SIPS-era product design
Advised Visa on licensing, AML/CFT and payments.
Discuss payments →
FINANCIAL SERVICES  /  ISLAMIC FINANCE
Shari'ah governance is a design input, not an obstacle.
Structuring for a market whose institutions answer to Shari'ah boards — including Somalia's first takaful regime.
COVERS
Takaful Law 2025 & licensing
Murabaha & Islamic structuring
Shari'ah-compatible commercial terms
First four takaful licences issued January 2026.
Discuss licensing →
FINANCIAL SERVICES  /  REGULATORY ENGAGEMENT
Applications that move — because the regulator recognises the framework.
Correspondence, submissions and engagement with the Central Bank, drafted in the regulator's own terms.
COVERS
CBS correspondence & submissions
Licence variations & renewals
Supervisory examinations
Engaged by the CBS to review its own founding statute.
Discuss a regulatory matter →
PROOF — SELECTED WORK
CASE STUDY
Licensing Visa in Somalia
Two entities, one regulatory strategy, in the first year of the new statute base — licensing, registration and AML/CFT across the entry.
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CASE STUDY
Rewriting the statute behind Somalia's central bank
Engaged by the Central Bank of Somalia: article-by-article analysis, comparative drafting against seven African central-bank statutes, amendments negotiated through committee.
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— Regulatory analysis and legal opinions for Capital One — recently concluded
— Partner heritage: Central Bank currency-reform advisory; the World Bank's financial-services market study
FROM SOMALIA LAW BLOG
A licensed Somali partner does not end your licensing analysis →
By the practice lead · cites the May 2025 statute package

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