BOARD CHARACTERISTICS: IMPLICATIONS ON FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE OF DEPOSIT MONEY BANKS IN NIGERIA

Abstract

The study examined the effect of board characteristics (BC) on financial performance (FP) of deposit money banks (DMBs) in Nigeria between 2012-2021(10years). The specific objectives of the study is to examine the relationship between the measures of board characteristics [Board Size (BS), Board Independence (BI), Board Gender Diversity (BGD) and Board Meeting (BM)] and [performance of deposit money banks proxy with Returns on equity (ROE)]. The focused 10 banks were drawn out of the 18 deposit money banks listed in the Nigerian Exchange Group. The quantitative technique of data analysis was adopted in this study, which comprises of descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis using OLS method. The findings revealed that BS, BGD and BM have insignificant relationship on ROE while BI had a significant effect. Finally, the study concluded that there is a significant relationship between BC and FP of DMBs in Nigeria. It is recommended that DMBs that wish to enhance their financial performance, especially post covid-19, should try to reduce their board size to plus or minus ten, but with strict adherence to the regulatory guideline. This will ensure that the yearly huge expense on this is reduced and efficiency is guaranteed. This will have more positive influence on corporate performance.
 Keywords: Board, Size, Performance, Diversity and Independence.