• The Victoria Falls International Financial Centre (VFIFC) licensed 38 financial institutions
• The Centre allows international investors to operate with greater regulatory certainty while Zimbabwe moves to de-dollarisation
• The Centre positions Zimbabwe to compete with established international financial jurisdictions by offering foreign currency certainty

Thirty eight companies received operating licences at a Victoria Falls International Financial Centre (VFIFC ) licence ceremony held in Harare yesterday, marking the operational launch of a financial jurisdiction first established under Statutory Instrument 4 of 2022.

VFIFC was established in January 2022 when Government gazetted Statutory Instrument 4 of 2022 under Section 78B of the Banking Act, declaring the Victoria Falls Special Economic Zone an International Financial Services Centre. Four years later, the issuance of licences moves that legal framework from policy into implementation.

The licences mark another stage in Zimbabwe's attempt to reposition itself within regional and international capital markets by creating a financial jurisdiction designed specifically for globally mobile capital. While many investment reforms focus on improving the broader domestic business environment, the VFIFC Centre follows a different model, creating a specialised investment ecosystem operating under its own regulatory framework, licensing regime and incentive structure to attract financial institutions, fund managers, fintech firms, family offices, investment advisers and other international financial service providers.

The 38 institutions licensed yesterday span securities trading, asset management, custodial services, financial advisory and related financial activities. Their composition is important because international financial centres are built around complete financial ecosystems rather than individual institutions. Asset managers require custodians. Investment funds require advisers. Securities markets require brokers, trustees and settlement infrastructure. The licensing exercise therefore establishes the institutional architecture through which capital can ultimately be raised, managed and deployed into Zimbabwe's economy.

The model itself is familiar internationally. Financial centres compete for capital in much the same way manufacturing zones compete for factories. Investors compare tax efficiency, regulatory certainty, licensing speed, currency flexibility, legal protections and ease of doing business before deciding where to establish regional operations.

The VFIFC is a designated financial services jurisdiction operating within Zimbabwe's Special Economic Zone framework. Businesses licensed within the Centre benefit from a regulatory environment designed around international financial services instead of traditional domestic commercial activity.

Authorisation procedures are streamlined, tax incentives improve investment economics and most transactions are structured in foreign currency, particularly the United States dollar. Investors therefore operate within an environment designed to reduce exchange rate uncertainty while maintaining access to Zimbabwe's investment opportunities.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the VFIFC lies in its relationship with Zimbabwe's broader monetary strategy. Zimbabwe has repeatedly stated its objective of gradually strengthening the domestic currency and reducing long term dependence on the United States dollar. That objective naturally raises questions for international investors whose investment decisions depend heavily on currency certainty, capital mobility and regulatory stability.

The VFIFC provides one possible answer, rather than requiring international investors to immediately operate within the same monetary framework as the domestic economy, Zimbabwe is creating a parallel financial architecture where international capital continues operating within a protected foreign currency environment while the broader economy gradually progresses towards greater monetary sovereignty.

Successful de dollarisation depends on confidence in the domestic currency being built through macroeconomic stability, fiscal discipline, lower inflation and deeper financial markets. International investors, meanwhile, price policy uncertainty into the returns they require before allocating capital. The higher the perceived uncertainty, the higher the return demanded to compensate for that risk.

The Centre attempts to reduce that uncertainty , International investors rarely seek guarantees that policy will never change. They seek confidence that the rules governing their investments remain predictable throughout those changes. VFIFC then provides a ring fenced legal and regulatory framework where licensed institutions continue operating in foreign currency even as Zimbabwe gradually reforms the wider monetary system. That separation lowers one of the largest uncertainties international investors have historically associated with Zimbabwe.

Viewed through that lens, the Centre is less a contradiction to de dollarisation than an instrument for managing it. Domestic monetary reforms and international capital allocation operate under different constraints. The domestic economy can gradually increase the role of the local currency while internationally mobile capital continues operating inside a specialised foreign currency jurisdiction. The two policies therefore address different objectives within the same long term economic strategy.

Zimbabwe is not creating a new concept, it is adopting a model already proven across several jurisdictions. The Dubai International Financial Centre transformed Dubai into one of the world's leading financial hubs through specialised regulation and internationally recognised legal structures.

The Abu Dhabi Global Market adopted a similar approach. Mauritius built one of Africa's largest cross border financial industries through decades of regulatory consistency, while Casablanca Finance City and the Kigali International Financial Centre have positioned themselves as regional gateways for investment.

Tax incentives and streamlined licensing have become standard features across international financial centres. Long term competitiveness increasingly depends on regulatory credibility, policy consistency and the ability to attract genuine capital flows rather than simply registering financial institutions.

Zimbabwe possesses substantial opportunities across mining, energy, agriculture, tourism, logistics, infrastructure and technology. Many of these sectors require sophisticated financing structures involving private equity, infrastructure funds, development finance institutions, institutional investors and cross border asset managers.

The economic value of the Centre lies less in the financial institutions themselves than in the capital they intermediate. Mining projects financed through the Centre, infrastructure funds structured within the jurisdiction and regional investment vehicles managed from Victoria Falls would generate economic impact extending well beyond the financial sector.

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