Abstract

The study examines financial intermediation and corporate performance with an emphasis on insurance companies. Time series data collected over a successive point in time and ex post -facto research design. The population the study comprises all the insurance companies operating in Nigeria as at December 2018 without limitation to their area of operation in insurance business. The study adopts purposive sampling technique. Thus, the sample of the study covers the period of thirty-six years spanning from 1981 to 2016. The data to be used for the study are extracted from secondary sources only. The secondary data were sourced from Central Bank of Nigeria statistical bulletin, Bureau of statistics reports, the National Pension Commission Annual Reports, Text books and academic Journals. The study adopts vector autoregressive models such as vector error correction mechanism, autoregressive distributed lag and Toda and Yamomoto VAR approach to cointegration. The study found that insurance investment, insurance claim and insurance premium exhibit dynamic effect on insurance companies' growth, profitability and penetration. The study concluded that insurance intermediation operations have effect on corporate performance of insurance companies in Nigeria. In line with the conclusion, the study recommends that management of insurance companies should ensure that optima combination of assets should form their portfolio.