Abstract
Banks are the backbones of any economy therefore it is of immense importance for
economies to possess a healthy and buoyant banking system with effective corporate governance
practices. In Nigeria, the Central Bank replaced the past governance codes with the CBN code (2012).
Therefore this study examines corporate governance and financial performance in Nigerian banks,
using this new code. The main issues in this study are: what is the relationship between board size and
financial performance of banks in Nigeria? What is the effect of the proportion of non- executive
directors on the financial performance of banks in Nigeria? To what extent is the corporate
governance disclosure of banks in Nigeria in compliance to CBN governance code (2012)? Does a
relationship actually exist between banks that disclose on corporate governance and their financial
performance in Nigeria? These questions were answered by examining the yearly-published reports of
the listed banks in Nigeria. In examining whether or not there is a relationship between corporate
governance and the financial performance of the banks, this research employed the regression
analysis method to determine the relationship. However, the variables that were employed for
corporate governance are: board size, board composition (the ratio of non-executive directors to total
directors), and corporate governance disclosure index. Variables used in this study for examining the
financial performance of these banks were the financial accountant measure for performance. These
measures are return on equity (ROE) and return on asset (ROA). In examining the level of
compliance of the banks in this study to the CBN (2012) governance code, the research employed the
content analysis method. Employing the content analysis, a disclosure index was formed and the
annual report for each bank was examined using the CBN code of corporate governance (2012) as a
guide. The results of the study showed that a positive relationship exists between the corporate
governance variables and the performance variables.
Citation
ID:
177471
Ref Key:
samson2014actacorporate