Abstract
The major objective of this study is to investigate the relationship between board diversity and financial performance of insurance companies in Nigeria, with specific reference to how gender diversity, ethnic diversity, board size, board composition and foreign directorship affect financial performance of insurance companies listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. This study selects 12 listed insurance companies using non-probability sampling method in the form of availability sampling technique for a period of 6 years i.e. 2004 to 2009. Using ROA, ROE and TOBIN’s Q as measures of firm performance and applying Feasible Generalised Least Squares (FGLS) and random effects estimators, the findings of this study reveal that gender diversity and foreign directors have a positive influence on insurance companies’ performance. But the findings indicate a negative and significant relationship between board composition and performance of insurance companies in Nigeria. These findings have the implications that an increase in the number of female directors and foreign directors on the boards of insurance companies in Nigeria will enhance their performance but an increase in the ratio of outside directors on the board will reduce the performance.