BANKS CONSOLIDATION AND LENDING BEHAVIOUR IN THE NIGERIAN FINANCIAL SECTOR - A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF MERGED AND UNMERGED DEPOSIT MONEY BANKS

This study carried out a comparative analysis of the lending behaviour of merged and unmerged Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria. A Levene test of variance equality was employed to investigate the extent of disparity in lending behaviour between the study variables. The study used capitalization, the volume of deposits, interest rate, investment portfolio as well as loans and advances to determine the disparity. The result from the Levene test revealed that there is a significant variation between the lending behaviour of merged and unmerged banks. The study, therefore, recommended that because there is a disparity in the variables of interest, especially the lending objectives, the Central Bank of Nigeria has to be firm in its supervision of banks to curtail the tendencies of engaging in risky activities to protect depositors’ funds.