eBusiness Weekly
Tawanda Musarurwa HARARE – Insurance regulator, the Insurance and Pensions Commission (IPEC) says the adoption of blockchain technology will help local players drive insurance penetration in Zimbabwe. IPEC has a target of increasing insurance penetration of below 10 percent to over 20 percent by 2020. And IPEC board chairperson Lynn Mukonoweshuro says technology, specifically the blockchain technology, can help the local insurance sector achieve this goal. “Our vision as IPEC is to see our insurance companies harness technology and all our expertise to ensure that Zimbabwe gets the best out of all its assets. And this is one of the key reasons why we are excited as IPEC. “We have been challenging all our businesses to say we have been failing to drive insurance penetration through traditional methods, so it only makes sense that we do it in a techno-savvy manner that appeals to the new generation. “So we are very conscious that technology involvement in penetration growth of our industry will bring with it to all our players a reduction in terms of operating costs, and ease of policy underwriting, and will achieve higher return on investment for all of them,” said Mrs Mukonoweshuro. Blockchain is an incorruptible real-time ledger of economics that can be encoded to record not just the history of financial transactions but nearly everything of value. All the data in the blockchain exists as a shared and continuously reconciled database. To this extent, experts say a trust and efficiency engine like blockchain technology has the potential to drive radical change in the insurance industry while improving transparency and outcomes across the entire value chain. “We are very conscious of the relevance and the positive impact of blockchain technology. And we believe that for blockchain technology the time has come for us to embrace it as an insurance industry and take advantage of it to lower delivery of insurance to the population of Zimbabwe. “So for IPEC at this stage we believe that technology is now a critical differentiator for players in the industry. In fact, for your information, as IPEC we have recently created a new division, which we are calling research and innovation so that we move along with you, if not ahead of you.” A fortnight ago KPMG, a global network of professional firms providing audit, tax and advisory services, said it was willing to assist Zimbabwean companies looking to adopt the blockchain technology. Said KPMG South Africa associate director Nevellen Moodley: “In terms of helping Zimbabwean companies adopt blockchain technology, we would help them in putting, first, a digital strategy in terms of say, here’s your ecosystem, here’s your clients, what are they actually buying from you. What would like to offer them in the future and how will they use the blockchain technology to assist them to reach that endpoint. “We then get whatever partners we need, because we have partnered with a lot of firms globally. The playing field for blockchain is not limited to Africa. “And it’s not only blockchain, but a combination of all technologies, but how to use that technology to enable that vision going forward. So we help them with putting a business case together, helping them assess the business case, get the right numbers together and understanding what the assumptions are. And once they have decided, we help them run the journey.” |