Board Independence and Financial Performance of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria and Canada

Introduction: In current eras, supervisory bodies have interceded in the operations of Deposit Money Banks. This is because they are confronted with plethora of problems such as overexpansion; corruption of bank officers, inappropriate risk management and these resulted to poor financial performance.

Aims: The present study aims to focus on the link amid board independence and financial performance of Deposit Money Banks as well as providing a comparative view by focusing on Nigeria and Canada.

Methods: This study seeks to observe the association amid board independence and corporate financial performance of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria and Canada. The panel data methodology is widely recommended for it is useful when data is a blend of time-series and cross-sectional features. The study applied secondary data extracted from annual financial statements of Deposit Money Banks quoted on the Nigerian Stock Market and in the Canadian stock market between the ten years period of 2008 and 2017.

Results: The variables considered in this study are return on asset (ROA) (dependent variable), proportion of independent non-executive directors on board (BIND) and audit committee independence (ACI) (independent variables), earnings per share (EPS) and firm size (FSIZE) which are control variables. From the findings, it is revealed that there exists a significant relationship between board independence and profitability of deposit money banks in Nigeria and Canada.

Conclusion: Empirical results obtained reveal that audit committee independence promoted financial performance of the deposit money banks in Nigeria while in Canada it was positive and insignificant. Thus, a greater proportion of audit committee independence would bring about a greater level of financial performance in deposit money banks in Nigeria and Canada. The aspect of corporate governance implies that banks will profit by increasing the number of its independent directors and independent audit committee members.