THE Insurance and Pension Commission (Ipec) has completed the draft regulations that will guide the disbursements of compensation to policy holders who suffered losses during the 2008-2009 hyperinflation era.
Government made a decision to compensate policy holders following recommendations that were made by the Judge George Smith-led Commission that was set up in 2015 to investigate the losses suffered by the public when the country dollarised due to hyperinflation and presented its findings in 2017.
Among the recommendations was that Government should compensate policy holders for the loss of value they suffered due to dollarisation.
IPEC chairperson, Mrs Grace Muradzikwa confirmed that progress had been made towards disbursing compensation.
“We have made significant progress since last year. As you are aware that in July 2022, the Cabinet approved the compensation framework and Government committed US$175 million as complementary towards compensation, which will be done by the insurance and pensions industry.
“IPEC has since come up with draft regulations that will inform the computation of rightful benefits, sources of funding for compensation, and eligibility for compensation, among other specific details. The draft regulations await gazetting,” she said.
Mrs Muradzikwa said after gazetting of the regulations, insurance companies and pension funds will be expected to submit compensation plans to IPEC within 90 days, showing compensation amounts and the eligible policyholders and pension fund members.
“IPEC will then review and approve the compensation scheme from each insurance company or pension fund/administrator within 30 days after receiving the same.
“Each insurance company or pension fund will be expected to start paying eligible policyholders or pension fund members no later than 30 days after the IPEC approval,” Mrs Muradzikwa said.
IPEC is the regulator of the insurance and pension industries and was established to develop the industry and protect the interests of insurance policy holders and pension fund members.
Last week the regulatory body said it was engaging the Zimbabwe Association of Funeral Assurers on policy design and benefits to address concerns that policy holders were not getting a fair deal from service providers.
This followed accusations levelled against a service provider on social media, of revoking policies of individuals for failing to pay subscriptions for three months, when that person had been paying their monthly subscriptions consistently for years as much as three decades. – The Herald
