INSURANCE SECTOR

This study examined the effect of stock market performance on insurance sector development in Nigeria over the period 1990 to 2024. The study was motivated by the need to understand how key indicators of stock market performance influence the growth
and stability of the insurance industry, which plays a vital role in financial intermediation and economic development. The specific objectives were to investigate the relationship between market capitalization, all share index, total value of transactions, and market turnover on insurance sector development measured by the insurance penetration rate. An ex-post facto research design was adopted, and the analysis was based on secondary data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria Statistical Bulletin, the Nigerian Exchange Limited Factbook, and the National Insurance Commission annual reports. The study employed the Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) estimation technique after confirming the stationarity and cointegration properties of the data using the Augmented Dickey-Fuller and Johansen tests. The empirical results revealed that market capitalization, all share index, total value of transactions, and market turnover each exert a positive and statistically significant impact on insurance sector development in Nigeria. The R-squared value of 0.873 indicates that approximately 87 percent of the variation in insurance sector development can be explained by changes in stock market performance indicators. These findings suggest that improvements in stock market performance enhance the capacity of insurance firms to mobilize funds, expand operations, and contribute to economic growth. The study concludes that a well-functioning and vibrant stock market is essential for the sustainable development of the insurance sector in Nigeria. It therefore recommends strengthening capital market reforms, promoting insurance investment in equities, enhancing regulatory coordination, improving financial literacy, and encouraging technological innovation to deepen the linkage between the stock market and the insurance industry.

This study investigates the role of blockchain technology in claims management and fraud prevention within Nigeria’s insurance sector. The study adopts a secondary data approach, relying on published reports, regulatory documents, and academic literature covering the period 2015–2024. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential techniques to evaluate trends in adoption, fraud prevention, claims efficiency, and operational challenges. The findings reveal that blockchain adoption in Nigeria’s insurance sector remains relatively low, with less than 30% of firms integrating blockchain or smart contracts as of 2024. Nevertheless, adoption has increased gradually, particularly following the introduction of the National Blockchain Policy (2023). Results further show that blockchain has enhanced transparency and reduced fraudulent claims by providing immutable records and enabling interfirm data sharing. Claims efficiency has also improved significantly, with blockchain-enabled firms reducing average processing times from 90–120 days to 30–45 days. Despite these benefits, adoption is constrained by infrastructural deficits, high costs, shortage of expertise, data privacy concerns, and regulatory uncertainty. The study concludes that blockchain technology offers significant opportunities to strengthen Nigeria’s insurance sector through fraud reduction, efficiency gains, and improved trust. However, realizing its full potential requires supportive regulation, investment in digital infrastructure, cost-sharing adoption models, and capacity building in technical expertise. The study is limited by its reliance on secondary data, which restricts the depth of empirical validation. Future research should integrate primary data collection and comparative studies across African markets to expand understanding of blockchain adoption in insurance

In this study, the effect of financial development on insurance penetration in Nigeria sector for the period 1995 – 2022 was investigated using ordinary least square (OLS) technique. Financial development indicators utilized in the study includes broad money supply and credit to private sector while insurance sector penetration rate was the dependent variable. We estimated a regression model and the result reveals that broad money supply has negative and insignificant impact on insurance penetration in Nigeria while credit to private sector was positively and significantly related to insurance penetration. The study recommends that regulatory authorities charged with the sole responsibility of ensuring the macroeconomic stability of Nigeria should ensure that more credit should be extended to the private sector in other to further deepen insurance penetration rate in Nigeria. Also, the negative and insignificant effect of broad money supply on insurance penetration in Nigeria calls for the strict reevaluation of the present monetary policy tools as regard the volume of money in circulation to ensure that it contribute significantly to insurance penetration rate in Nigeria