By Cecilia Chiluba
Pensions and Insurance Authority (PIA) has unveiled the Insurance Regulatory Sandbox, a key innovation aimed at fostering growth and advancement within the sector.
The initiative provides a controlled environment where entities can test new products, services, and business models under regulatory oversight and temporary regulatory flexibilities, while ensuring strong consumer protection safeguards.
It aligns directly with the Second National Financial Inclusion Strategy (NFIS II 2024–2028) , which has set an ambitious target to increase insurance uptake from the current 6.3 percent to 15 percent.
Speaking during the official launch of the Sandbox on Monday evening, PIA Registrar and Chief Executive Officer, Namakau Ntini, noted that Zambia’s insurance penetration remains below its potential, with the majority of citizens — especially small-scale farmers and informal businesses — either uninsured or underinsured.
“W cannot speak of a prosperous and inclusive Zambia by 2030 while a significant portion of our population remains outside the formal financial safety net. We look forward to the upcoming FinScope results to gain a clearer picture of where we stand,” Mrs. Ntini stated.
She stressed that digital platforms, micro-insurance solutions and data-driven products hold the key to reaching traditionally underserved groups.
“The Sandbox offers a pathway to test, refine and scale these solutions within a framework that builds trust and accountability,” she stressed.
Mrs. Ntini called on industry players and innovators to engage in good faith by testing solutions that are not only commercially viable, but also fair, transparent and genuinely beneficial to consumers, emphasizing the need for collaboration to ensure the success of the Sandbox.
“Let me emphasize the power of collaboration. Innovation thrives when it is collective. The success of this Sandbox depends on continued partnership between the Authority, industry players, innovators, Fintechs, mobile network operators and our development partners.”
“It also requires a shared commitment to learning: understanding what works, what does not work, and how regulation itself must evolve in a rapidly changing world,” Mrs. Ntini emphasized.
At the same event, PIA Deputy Registrar-Insurance, Dr. Brian Manchishi, said the development of the Sandbox was guided by international best practice, including the work of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors, Access to Insurance Initiative and Financial Sector Deepening Africa.
Dr. Manchishi stated that the regulatory framework was designed to strike the right balance between enabling innovation and upholding PIA’s regulatory mandate.
“The financial landscape has seen so much growth with non-traditional actors answering the call to service the underserved communities. We have seen the inclusion of unserved populations more than double with the advent of mobile payment systems and this has had a positive impact on the banking and non-banking sectors. While the impact has not been reflective on the insurance sector.”
“It was in this context that we began to reflect on how best to respond as a regulator. We recognized that a purely reactive approach to innovation would limit growth and exclude promising solutions from the formal market. At the same time, we were equally conscious that innovation must not come at the expense of consumer protection or market stability,” he added.
The Sandbox has been designed as a controlled and time-bound testing environment that will allow insurers and innovators to pilot new products, services and business models under close regulatory oversight, with clearly defined safeguards for consumers.
