A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE SURVIVAL STRATEGIES OF DEPOSIT MONEY BANKS IN A DEPRESSED ECONOMY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE FIRST BANK OF NIGERIA PLC

ABSTRACT

Banking is in the midst of change that has arisen due to economic depression. As government seek to improve economic efficiency and better allocation of resources to solve the problem of economic depression, policy makers are shifting towards openness, competitiveness and market discipline.

In response to the developments, Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria engaged in financial sanitizing, management strengthening, corporate refocusing, Business Process Reengineering (BPR), mergers and acquisitions in order to survive the depressed economy. This whole process is called survival strategies through corporate restructurings.

The writer made efforts to discuss issues, facts and environmental factors surrounding the wave of deposit money banks’ survival in a depressed economy like Nigeria.

The impact of this research in banks was gleaned from five performance indicators namely total assets, total deposits, loans and advances, profit before tax and shareholders’ funds, of First Bank of Nigeria Plc. The research looked at the position of these indicators before and after the sanitizing exercise undertaken by the banks for survival and also, its impact on the entire banking system bearing in mind the effect of globalization on the financial market in particular and the economy at large.

Chapter four shows the presentation and analysis of First Bank’s financial statement with the use of chart, tables, bar chart and graph.

Chapter five summarizes all that was discussed from chapter one to four and gave suggestions on how deposit money banks can survive in a depressed economy.

Finally, this researcher leaves this work open to constructive criticisms and expects future scholars to delve into further research and improve on this work.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page    -        -        -        -        -        -        -        i        

Approval Page     -        -        -        -        -        -        ii

Certification Page-        -        -        -        -        -        iii

Dedication -        -        -        -        -        -        -        iv

Acknowledgement         -        -        -        -        -        v

Abstract      -        -        -        -        -        -        -        vii

Table of Contents          -        -        -        -        -        -        viii

CHAPTER ONE:         INTRODUCTION

1.1     Background of the Study        -        -        -        -        1

1.2     Statement of the Problem        -        -        -        -        9

1.3     Objectives of the Study  -        -        -        -        11

1.4     Research Questions       -        -        -        -        12

1.5     Scope of the Study        -        -        -        -        -        12

1.6     Significance of the Study         -        -        -        -        13

1.7     Limitations of the Study          -        -        -        -        14

1.8     Definition of Terms       -        -        -        -        15

CHAPTER TWO:

2.0            Review of Related Literature   -        -        -        1

2.1     Issues in Bank Survival           -        -        -        -        17

2.2     An Overview of the Operating Environment for

          Nigerian Deposit Money Banks        -        -        -        19

2.2.1    The Macro-Economic Environment  -        -        20

2.2.2    Industry Environment   -        -        -        -        29

2.2.3    The Regulatory Environment/Legal Framework -          32

2.3            The Business Process Re-Engineering (BPR) Option -      -           35

2.3.1    Origin and Meaning of the BPR Concept   -        -        -              35

2.3.2    Fundamental Breakthrough Required for Reengineering

Services in Banks          -        -        -        -        -        -        -        -     36

2.3.3    Key and Methodology for Carrying Out a BPR Project in Banks  42

2.3.4    The Role of BPR in the Survival and Sanitizing of the Nigerian

Deposit Money Banks   -        -        -        -        -        -          47

2.3.5    Positive Effects of BPR To the Banking Sector   -        -        50

2.4            The Merger and Acquisition Option           -        -        -        -       52

2.4.1    Meaning of the Concept Merger and Acquisition          -        -        52

2.4.2    Legal Issues in Merger and Acquisition      -        -        -        55

2.5            Synergy: An Efficiency Indicator in Bank Sanitizing -   -        56

2.6            Nature of Deposit Money Bank in Nigeria           -        -        -       59

2.7            A Historical Overview of First Bank of Nigeria Plc       -        -        60

2.8            Depressed Economy      -        -        -        -        -        -        62

2.8.1    Causes of Economic Depression -     -        -        -        -        63

CHAPTER THREE:

3.0            Research Methodology -          -        -        -        -        -        -       65

3.1     Research Method -        -        -        -        -        -        -        65

3.2     Determination of Population size of the Study    -        -        65

3.3     Determination of Sample size  -        -        -        -        -        67

3.4     Method of Data Collection      -        -        -        -        -        68

3.5     Method of Data Analysis/Interpretations   -        -        -        69

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0            Data Presentation and Analysis-       -        -         -         -       71

4.1     Financial Statement of First Bank   

Plc for the Month ended 31st March-        -        -        -         71

4.2      Analysis of Total Assets        -        -        -        -        -        -         73

4.3     Analysis of Total Deposits-    -        -        -        -        -          77

4.4     Analysis of Loans and Advances-     -        -        -        -         80

4.5     Analysis of Profit Before Tax-          -         -          -        -        86

4.6     Analysis of Shareholders’ Funds-     -        -           -        -       89

CHAPTER FIVE

5.0            Summary, Conclusion and Recommendation-          -         -   93

5.1     Summary -  -        -        -        -        -        -        -            -     93

5.1.1  Total Assets         -        -        -        -        -        -        -            -    93

5.1.2  Total Deposits     -        -        -        -        -        -             -    93

5.1.3  Loans and Advances      -        -        -        -        -              -   94

5.1.4  Profit Before Tax (PBT)          -        -        -        -        -              -  95

5.1.5  Shareholders’ Funds      -        -        -        -        -              -   95

5.2     Conclusion -        -        -        -        -        -        -            -     96

5.3     Recommendation    -      -        -        -        -        -        -        96

           Bibliography -         -        -         -        -         -         -         -        99

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Nigerian economy is faced with national and global economic challenges and as such, the financial institutions, especially the banking sector has an option of sanitizing and restructuring its operational processes in order to survive the depressed economy, as well as embarking on a consolidation exercise which would have some wider structural effects on the industry and on the economy as a whole.                          

Basically, banking is a service industry operated by human beings for the benefit of the general public while making returns to the shareholders.  As such, it is natural that the services provided thereof by the industry cannot be 100% efficient; however, there is always a room for improvement.  It is on this statement that the index of our further discussion on this study is based.

The banking sector in the third world economies has been grossly under managed when compared with their counterparts in the developed countries of the world.  This has made it imperative for Nigerian banks to sanitize and restructure their operational processes so as to be in line with the global trends, and to survive the depressed economy.

Before the introduction of Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) in 1986, the banking sector was characterized by few banks.   The operators of these banks had almost total control of the business of banking as customers had to look for their services which most of the times were of poor quality.  The managers, because of the pressure to provide banking services, had little time to market their bank services or design new products to improve their customers’ service and at the same time, they received changes based on the approved tariff. Competition was minimal and customers could spend long hours trying to obtain service in the banking hall due to long queues.

The quality of the bank staff was poor.

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