Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Board Characteristics and Financial Performance of Commercial Banks in Nigeria

G. O. Oyedokun ,

Department of Accounting, Faculty of Administration, Nasarawa State University, Keffi, Nasarawa State, Nigeria;

For correspondence:-     Email: godwinoye@yahoo.com

Received: 2 Jun, 2019        Accepted: 23 June, 2019        Published: 30 June 2019

Citation: Oyedokun GO, Board Characteristics and Financial Performance of Commercial Banks in Nigeria. Account Tax Rev 2019; 3(2):31-48 doi:

© 2019 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

This study examines the effect of board characteristics on financial Performance of quoted commercial banks in Nigeria for the period 2013-2017. Ex-post Facto research design was adopted. Board characteristics used include size, independence, gender diversity and board meeting. Data were extracted from the annual reports of the quoted commercial banks. Multiple panel regression analysis was used to analyse the data. The result shows that board characteristics have a significant effect on the financial performance of quoted commercial banks in Nigeria. Specifically, Board gender diversity hasa significant positive effect, and board meetings have a significant negative effect on board characteristic while board size hasan insignificant negative effect on financial Performance while board independence hasan insignificant negative effect on financial Performance. Based on the findings, This study, recommends that, the regulators of commercial banks in Nigeria should increase surveillance and supervision to ensure proper overall risk management that could safeguard the interest of all stakeholders and the reputations of the banks, The regulators and the management of the commercial banks in Nigeria should emphasize the optimal size of the board and board of directors should have composed of more independent/non-executive directors who are experts in the financial services industry to bring more independent and expert-based judgments and opinions with regard to risk management and the overall performance of the banks.

Keywords: Board of directors, commercial banks,corporate governance,financial performance, audit fee.