Consolidation and Financial Performance : A Study of Listed Banks in Nigeria

Many industrial and emerging markets around the world have witnessed an intense and accelerated process of the consolidation of banks with a view to achieving effective and efficient operations consistent with the best practices of financial services. In Nigeria, the motive of the consolidation exercise was to tackle the crises that engulfed the banks, some of which include mismanagement, fraud, insolvency and under-capitalization. However, the implication of consolidation activity on the financial performance of banks has been one of the defining issues in the consolidation literature that needs to be investigated. This book empirically examines the impact of consolidation on the financial performance of the listed banks in Nigeria. Statistical techniques of data analysis such as bi-variate regression analysis; t-test; the Wilcox-on signed ranked test and descriptive statistics were used. The results show that there is a huge surge in capital availability for banks in Nigeria as a result of consolidation. However, the large amounts of assets placed at the disposal of the management for the operations of the banks in the post consolidation period have not been used efficiently.