The Institute was officially opened in August 1982 as the Insurance Training and Education Board of Zimbabwe (ITEB). The Insurance Institute of Zimbabwe (IIZ) is registered by the Ministry of Higher Education in Zimbabwe. It was set up by the insurance industry associations in Zimbabwe. The Institute is a professional insurance organisation and an independent examining body working for people working in and affiliated to the insurance industry. The other core function of IIZ is to promote efficiency and improvement in business practice among its members and the delegates that it trains. The Institute achieves this by providing a wide range of both academic and training activities including the setting of examinations. IIZ compares and shares experiences with the Chartered Insurance Institute (CII) of the United Kingdom and the Insurance Institute of South Africa. IIZ aims to ultimately be the insurance trainer of choice for the insurance / assurance industry.