IPEC warns public on engaging unregistered individuals and organizations
By Insurance24
HARARE, Insurance and pensions regulator, The Insurance and Pensions Commission (Ipec) has warned the public against engaging individuals and organisations purporting to be insurance or pensions experts as most of these people are not qualified and registered as financial advisers.
In a statement Ipec said the said individuals and organisation offer insurance and pension “advise” for a fee in the process swindling their clients whose interests purport to represent yet the same advise can be obtained from qualified registered and duly recognized institutions free of charge.
“Some policy holders and pensioners have been ill advised by the same individuals and organisations to take their cases to court where they lost a fortune in legal fees on cases that would have otherwise been resolved by the commission free of charge.
Ipec is mandated by law to protect the rights and interests of the policy holders and pension fund members and offers its services of them free of charge,” said Ipec.
This comes as insurance fraud is on the rise. This comes as the insurance industry is in the process of setting up an insurance crimes bureau amid rising fraudulent claims.
Insurance Council Zimbabwe (ICZ) is on record saying that an independent bureau modelled along the South African Insurance Crime Bureau was on cards.
The independent bureau expected to in place before the end of the second quarter, will assist the industry to prevent or investigate such crimes.
The bureau will be modelled along the South Africa Insurance Crime Bureau. Formed in 2008, South Africa’s Insurance Crime Bureau has over the
years initiated various initiatives to address organised crime in the
industry as well as a number of educational efforts aimed at the public to create awareness of insurance fraud scams.
