CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1  Background of the Study

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

Basically, banking is a service industry operated by human being 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 and the business development in the third world economics has been grossly under managed when compared with their counterparts in the developed countries of the world.

These has made it imperative for Nigerian banks to sanitize and re-build for their operational processes so as to be in line with the global trends, and to revive 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 development of banking as customers had to look for their service 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 customer’s service and at the same time, they received changes based on the approved tariff. Competition was minimal and customers could spend long hears trying to obtain service in the banking hall due to long queues.

The quality of the bank staff was poor, they were rude to their customers and most of the time; they peet they were doing a favour to their customers as at that time, no Nigerian bank had neither a simple computer nor a network of computers for online banking in the area of credit-appraisal, Ezeikpe (1993) observed that they were too conservative in extending credit facilities, the system was highly under banked while the payment mechanism was filled with imperfection such that locally drawn cheques took more than one week to clear.

1.2  Statement of the Problem

Evidence has shown that the banking business is undergoing several transformations with the increased deregulation and liberalization of the business, their structural changes are unavoidable; hence the current wave of restructuring in the sector is to respond adequately to the fast changing and increasingly competitive business in order to revive. Banks that are unable to restructure in line with the global revolution in the industry showed be ready to go down the drain in the process and be liquidated.

Between 1991 and 1997, a total of 31 Nigerian banks have been liquidated by the NDIC due to their protracted problem of distress, but some of the casualtive would have been averted if appropriate restructuring strategies were implemented. In these era of customer’s sophistication and advancement in information technology, bank management should learn to be proactive and more efficient in product/service delivery, they should continually review their operational strategy in readiness for the on-going global challenges, more so, as customers are becoming aware of their environment and ready to move their funds to where their demand would be adequately met while yearning for more personalized service in consideration of the above challenges one may ask, how effective is the merges and acquisition system and the business development strategies adopted by banks on the peace of economic depression?

Has information technology been given adequate attention? Do bank mergers achieve the desired synergy? How for could, the result of the exercise be sustained without abandoning the strategy? How can mergers and acquisition improve the activities in the banking sector? These stated problems together with the research questions below are what the researcher tries to encapsulate in the research topic with a view to providing their answers in the course of this research.

1.3  Objectives of the Study

In dealing with the above stated problems, the study seeks to achieve the following objectives:

1. To find out if the volume of assets of banks were improved after the mergers and acquisition and the business development strategies were employed.
2. To find out how mergers and acquisition and the business development strategies adopted by the bank have affected deposit mobilization.

• To ascertain the extent the depositors confidence have been restored in the mergers and acquisition and the business development strategies employed by banks.

1. To ascertain whether profitability of banks were improved as a result of the mergers and acquisition and the business development.
2. To find out if the volume of loans and advances improved after adopting the mergers and acquisition and the business development strategies.
3. To examine how mergers and acquisition and the business development strategies adopted by banks impacted on the shareholder’s funds.

1.4  Research Questions

In trying to make a critical analysis of mergers and acquisition and the business development strategies in the banking sector through sanitization of the banking industry for growth and stability, the following question will be very important as the researcher tries to provide answers to those mind bugging questions which are;

1. Has there been increase in the volume of assets of banks after the mergers and acquisition and the business development strategies were employed.
2. Has mergers and acquisition and the business development strategies adopted by the bank affected deposit mobilization?

• Has they been improvement in the profitability of banks as a result of the mergers and acquisition and business development

1. Has there been improvement in the volume of loans and advance after the adoption of the merger and acquisition and the business strategies through sanitizing.
2. Has merger and acquisition and the business development strategies adopted by banks impacted on the shareholders fund of the affected bank.