The Intervening Effect of Global Financial Condition on the Determinants of Bank Performance: Evidence from Nigeria

The global financial crisis had devastating effect on both developed and developing economies. In Nigeria, the effect of the crisis swerve through the major sectors of the economy with the banking sector greatly affected. This study investigates the determinants of Nigerian banks’ performance from 1999 to 2010 while taking into consideration the intervening effect of global financial condition. The data of the study, which were extracted from annual reports of the banks as well as various publications of Central Bank of Nigeria and Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation, were treated statistically using multiple regressions. The study provides evidence indicating that in the presence of the effect of global financial condition, only assets quality and market concentration are significant determinants of the Nigerian banks’ performance. By implications, these findings suggest the need to keep nonperforming assets at minimum and introduce a policy to encourage fair competition among the banks operating in Nigeria in order to check concentration of banking services among only few banks.