Financial Services

While demographics alone should mean there is plenty of room for growth, the insurance sector’s recent performance has not been sufficient for it to reach the critical mass necessary to improve its image with clients and enhance its capacity to underwrite large risks. According to the Nigerian Insurance Association (NIA), insurance penetration reached 0.6% in 2011, far lower than other African...

Nigeria had seven banks with total assets in excess of N1trn ($6.4bn) as of end-2011, with the top four accounting for 55.62% of the sector’s net profits. Yet although the continent’s most populous nation boasts some of its largest banks by assets, just 21% of Nigeria’s population of about 165m people is banked, according to a 2011 study by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Bank credit remains...

The stock market is the continent’s third largest by capitalisation after Johannesburg and Cairo. The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) includes a main board with 186 equities, a board dedicated to SMEs with 12 listings, and a single exchange-traded fund. While investors welcomed what they saw in 2010 as a fleeting recovery in markets, 2011 was more challenging, as it came on the back of sustained...