Post Consolidation Asset Base: Effect on Financial Leverage, Efficiency and Profitability of Nigerian Banks

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of post-bank consolidation on financial leverage, asset efficiency and profitability of Nigerian banks. Cross-sectional and time series data were collected from Nigerian Stock Exchange fact books and annual reports and accounts of various banks, specifically on revenue, fixed assets, long term debt, and profit after tax. Leverage, assets efficiency and profitability ratios were calculated and the data delineated into two eras: pre-consolidation era (involving 30 banks) and post-consolidation era (with 16 banks). Paired sample t-test of mean and multiple regression analysis were employed to evaluate bank performance. Financial leverage was lower in the post-consolidation era indicating lower risk, lesser vulnerability and greater stability. Assets efficiency and profitability were not significantly different in both eras. Again the multiple regression analysis shows stronger explanatory power of asset efficiency to cause changes in financial leverage for both pre-and post-consolidation eras than that of profitability, albeit in contrast to a priori expectation. The anxieties expressed by industry watchers that the dusts are not yet settled with Nigeria's banks credibility are therefore founded in empirical results.