EFFECT OF CONSOLIDATION ON CORPORATE FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF ORGANIZATIONS IN NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

Consolidation in the banking system is a global phenomenon, which is said to have started in advanced Economies. Notable examples of countries experiencing a wave of mergers and consolidations in the banking industry in recent times are the United States of America (USA) and Japan (Hall, 1999). According to Kwan (2004), since the enactment of the Riegle-Neal Act, which allows interstate branch banking beginning from 1997, the Number of large bank mergers in the USA has increased significantly. Today, the U.S.banking sector is reported to be in good shape, with record profits and relatively low Volumes of problem loans. Further research on mega mergers in the USA suggests that Merged banks experienced higher profit efficiency from increased revenues than individual banks, due to the fact that they provide customers with high value added Products and services (Akhavin, Allen,Berger, David and Humphrey 1997).

Historically, the Nigeria banking industry has undergone four stages of development phases. The first stage could be described as the unguided liaises fair phase 1930 to 1958, during which several poorly capitalized and unsupervised indigenous bank failed before their tenth anniversary. The second stage was the control regime 1960 to 1985, during which the central bank of Nigeria ensured that only fit and proper banks were granted a license. The year 1986 witnessed tremendous change in the nation’s financial landscape. This was as a result of the economic reforms embodied in the structural adjustment programmed (SAP) that marked the introduction and commencement of neoliberal philosophy of free entry from being in operation which was over stretched and banking license were dispense by the political authorities on the basis of patronage . This reform however, led to the growth in terms of number of banks, branches, product creativity and the level of operation of Nigerian banks. This was the third phase which was referred to as the post-SAP, the control regime 1986 to 2004 (Ekezie, 1997). However, from 1987 to 1989, there were series of fluctuations experienced in the foreign exchange market and insider abuses in the Nigerian banking industry. The end result was the massive close down of banks that began to set in mainly due to poor corporate governance noncompliance with regulations, weak management and declining profits, capital efficiency, insolvency, high incidence of nonperforming loans/poor asset quality , and over reliance on foreign exchange market for income through round tripping of officially sourced foreign exchange (Yakubu, 2008).hence the need for a reform in the banking system.