Zimbabwe’s life reinsurance market remains heavily dependent on group life assurance, with the product accounting for 51% of insurance revenue in the industry’s second quarter.
Charlton Mutumwa, a reinsurance consultant, previously with Fides Corretores in Mozambique, said the figures highlight the importance of employer-linked cover to reinsurers.
However, he raised questions about product concentration, corporate risk exposure and the sustainability of underwriting growth.
In 2024, during the same period under review, group life assurance constituted 65% of the total revenue for the reinsurers and 59% in 2025.
“The performance highlights the contribution of employer-linked life cover to an industry that operates within a relatively narrow product base. Group life assurance can generate recurring premium income from employers and other organisations that arrange cover for their employees or members,” said Mutumwa.
“But the business also exposes insurers and reinsurers to concentrations of risk across particular employers, employee populations and contractual arrangements.”
Group life assurance generally provides life cover to a defined group of people under an arrangement negotiated with an employer. Most of the corporate companies have such arrangements in place. Depending on the contract, benefits may be linked to an employee’s salary or set at a specified amount.
Rather than acquiring each policyholder individually, the group life scheme allows an insurer to underwrite a scheme covering employees across an organisation. Such a structure creates operational efficiencies in enrolment and premium collection, including the administration of the scheme. Group life assurance can also support recurring business when employers renew their arrangements.
In the event of an eventuality, the cover ordinarily provides a lump-sum benefit to nominated beneficiaries if an insured member dies while covered. Subject to policy terms, some cover packages may include additional benefits, such as accidental death or disability cover.
Most employers have bundled group life to form part of staff remuneration and employee welfare. Tawanda Poshai, a reinsurance legal counsel at Mavedzenge and Poshai Law firm, said for reinsurers, which assume part of the risks originally accepted by direct insurers, the composition of that business matters as much as its growth.
“The latest IPEC figures show that Zimbabwe’s life reinsurance sector is generating more revenue, but the contribution from group life assurance makes the performance of employer-linked schemes an important factor in determining how that growth is sustained. Sustainability is key,” said Poshai.
IPEC’s figures show that group life was the second-largest product category in Zimbabwe’s direct life assurance market, after funeral assurance. The two remained the principal sources of revenue for the life insurance sector, jointly accounting for 83% of total insurance revenue, as in the prior year.
Historically, long-term cash payouts have faced risks from inflation or currency fluctuations in Zimbabwe. This has made products like funeral and group life policies (which offer predictable or in-kind benefits) trusted in providing reliable real-world assurance.
Although the combined contribution of funeral and group life assurance remained the same, revenue earned by the two products increased by 34%.
“The overall product risk profile of the life assurance sector remained relatively low during the review period. Funeral assurance products continued to dominate the life assurance sector, accounting for 72% of total insurance revenue, while group life assurance emerged as the second-largest segment, contributing 11%,” said IPEC.
The concentration is more pronounced in reinsurance, where group life alone accounted for 51% of reported life insurance revenue. Life reinsurers recorded approximately US$6.66 million in insurance revenue in the first half of 2026, compared with US$4.41 million in the same period in 2025.
“Overall, life reinsurers achieved a positive insurance service result equivalent to about US$1.69 million (ZWG43.51 million),” said IPEC.
The quarter also recorded approximately US$6.09 million in foreign-currency business for life reinsurers, equivalent to 92% of their total insurance revenue.
“The high foreign-currency share underscores the importance of currency denomination to reinsurers’ operations. It also makes the relationship between the currencies in which premiums are collected, claims are paid and assets are held, an important consideration in managing risk,” said Poshai.
Reinsurance enables a direct insurer to transfer an agreed portion of its risk to another insurer, known as a reinsurer, in exchange for a premium. The allocation of risk depends on the reinsurance structure. Poshai said, under proportional arrangements, a reinsurer may accept an agreed share of premiums and claims. Under non-proportional arrangements, the reinsurer may become responsible for losses above specified thresholds, subject to the contract.
“Group life can be attractive because it brings together many insured lives under a single scheme. However, a large number of members do not necessarily mean the risk is fully diversified,” said Poshai.
The IPEC report identifies group life as the main contributor to life reinsurers’ revenue, but does not establish that every group life scheme is profitable, even though the product’s claims experience improved during the period.
“Those conclusions would require more detailed product-level disclosures,” said Mutumwa.
Emeritus Reinsurance is the leading life reinsurer benefiting from Zimbabwe’s expanding group life and funeral assurance segments. The company commands a dominant 47% revenue share of the country’s dedicated life reinsurance market.
The reliance on group life at the reinsurance level mirrors a broader concentration in direct life assurance. According to the regulator, direct life insurers generated ZWG3.79 billion in insurance revenue during the six months ended 30 June 2026, equivalent to approximately US$147.04 million at the average official exchange rate. Foreign-currency-denominated revenue accounted for 57% of total direct life insurance revenue, compared with 54% a year earlier. IPEC attributed the increase mainly to new business.
Other players operating in this space include First Mutual Reinsurance (FMRE) and ZEP-Re (PTA Reinsurance Company). Minerva Re, Zimbabwe’s largest reinsurance broker, handles approximately 80% of all brokered reinsurance premiums in the country. The company acts as the primary pipeline routing massive corporate group life treaties from direct assurers into local and global reinsurance pools. The high proportion of foreign-currency business adds another dimension to the sector’s performance.
“Foreign-currency business can provide a closer match between premium receipts and claims denominated in the same currency, but that outcome is not automatic. It depends on how the contract is written and how the insurer manages its assets and liabilities,” said Poshai.
“Market participants therefore need to assess currency matching alongside the underlying mortality risk, pricing and claims profile. A rise in US dollar-denominated revenue may strengthen the reported revenue base, but it does not remove the need for sound asset-liability management.”
Market concentration does not automatically imply weak competition or poor performance. Reinsurance requires capital, technical expertise, risk-management systems and the ability to meet claims obligations. However, concentration makes it useful to examine how much capacity is available for different types of risk, how directly insurers distribute their reinsurance placements, and whether the market has sufficient alternative capacity for larger or more complex schemes.
“Both for employers and employees, group life provides a mechanism for protecting families against the financial consequences of death. It offers insurers access to large pools of policyholders and the potential for recurring business. For reinsurers, it provides a substantial source of revenue and an opportunity to diversify risk across schemes and clients,” said Mutumwa.
COMMENTS