ABSTRACT

In order to strengthen the competitive and operational capabilities of banks in Nigeria with a view towards returning global and public confidence to the Nigerian banking sector and the economy in general, the Central Bank of Nigeria instituted a banking reform in 2004, which saw most of the then existing 89 banks merging with each other. This paper evaluates the impact of mergers and acquisitions on performance of Banks in Nigeria. To do this, pre-merger and post-merger financial statements of consolidated banks were obtained, adjusted, carefully analyzed and compared.

      Mergers and acquisitions in the Nigerian banking sector are reform strategies recently adopted to reposition the banking sector. These were done to achieve improved financial efficiency, forestall operational hardships and expansion bottlenecks. The impact of consolidation on bank structure has been obvious, while its impact on bank performance has been harder to discern. The government policy-promoted bank consolidation rather than market mechanism has been the process adopted by most developing or emerging economies and the time lag of the bank consolidation varies from nation to nation. 

     Following the outcome of the Special Joint Examination by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), ten banks were indicted, out of which two were asked to recapitalize, while the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Directors of the remaining eight were removed by CBN based on mismanagement and poor corporate governance.