Portfolio Management: An Appraisal of Insurance Industry’s Investment Profile Under Interest Rate Deregulation in Nigeria (1985 – 2007)
I.O. Balogun

Abstract
Insurance companies are institutional investors and their transactions contribute positively to the capital market development. Through their services the economy is able to produce more goods and services as most investments are financed through loans in order to produce on a better footing in the economy. Life assurance is the focus of this paper as they have a relatively stable ‘idle” funds at their disposal than the non-life insurance to invest in the economy. More also, by regulation their investment priorities are not the same as the law dictates investments opportunities. This paper examined the direction that investment would go in a deregulated interest rate regime on government securities in comparison with others. It is observed that the presence of flexible interest rate do channel investment. But compulsory laws will lead to disincentives and a tendency to violate such laws, as investors are interested in ventures with high yield overtime.

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