Nairobi, Feb. 6 -- Insurance and re-insurance firms have slashed their investment in stocks listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) to below two percent of their portfolio, amid continued investor flight from the bourse.

Data by the Insurance Regulatory Authority (IRA) shows the sector's investment in quoted equities dropped to Sh19.38 billion at the end of September 2023, marking a 27 percent decline from Sh26.53 billion in the preceding similar period.

The decline took the industry's exposure to capital market investment to a record low of 1.9 percent of the Sh1.03 trillion assets compared with 2.9 percent in 2022 and 4.3 percent in 2021.

The continued sell-down from equities has come on the back of the underperformance of sh...