Minister of Finance Tours IPEC’s New Offices!
The Minister of Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion, Honourable Professor Mthuli Ncube yesterday toured the Insurance and Pensions Commission (IPEC)’s new offices at number 90 Speke Avenue, in Harare’s Central Business District.
The property is undergoing phased renovations, allowing all staff members to be housed at the same premises once the renovations are completed.
During the tour, the Minister engaged with the IPEC Board, Management and Staff, and commended the Commission for acquiring the property.
“It’s really good to have a dedicated building as an important regulator and it’s also important to see you at the workplace,” he said.
“IPEC is a regulator for a very critical part of the non-banking financial services sector, which is the investment side – pensions, short-term and long-term insurers, what we call contractual sectors.”
The Minister also lauded IPEC for spearheading initiatives such as the Zimbabwe-specific Mortality Tables, aimed at improving actuarial assessments in the industry. Additionally, he acknowledged IPEC’s growing international recognition, citing the successful hosting of the International Organisation of Pension Supervisors (IOPS) Annual Conference in 2023.
Another milestone highlighted was the Farmer’s Basket parametric insurance, a game-changing initiative launched in Goromonzi during the 2023/2024 agricultural season. Designed to support smallholder farmers against climate risks, the project is a collaboration between IPEC and key stakeholders, including Government, Insurance Council of Zimbabwe (ICZ), Access to Insurance Initiative (A2ii), and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
Hon Prof Ncube expressed the Government’s commitment to seeing the scaling up of the Farmer’s Basket succeed.
He also bemoaned the challenges bedevilling the insurance and pensions industry due to the macroeconomic environment. Hon Prof Ncube reassured stakeholders that the Government is actively working to address these issues to foster a more stable and resilient financial sector.
