ABSTRACT

ABSTRACT The study carried out an empirical investigation into the quantitative effect of credit risk on the performance of commercial banks in Nigeria over the period of 11 years (2000-2010). Five commercial banking firms were selected on a cross sectional basis for eleven years. The traditional profit theory was employed to formulate profit, measured by Return on Asset (ROA), as a function of the ratio of Non-performing loan to loan & Advances (NPL/LA), ratio of Total loan & Advances to Total deposit (LA/TD) and the ratio of loan loss provision to classified loans (LLP/CL) as measures of credit risk. Panel model analysis was used to estimate the determinants of the profit function. The results showed that the effect of credit risk on bank performance measured by the Return on Assets of banks is cross-sectional invariant. That is the effect is similar across banks in Nigeria, though the degree to which individual banks are affected is not captured by the method of analysis employed in the study. Banks collect deposits and lends to customers but when customers fail to meet their obligations problems such as non-performing loans arise. This study evaluates the impact of credit risk on the profitability of Nigerian banks. The findings revealed that credit risk management has a significant impact on the profitability of Nigeria banks.