Volume 6, Issue 4, July 2014, Pages 1111–1122
Idowu Eferakeya1
1 Lecturer, Department of Accounting, Banking & Finance, Delta State University, Asaba Campus, Asaba, Nigeria
Original language: English
Copyright © 2014 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
This paper examined the impact of bank consolidation on credit access and availability to small and medium scale enterprises (SME's) in Nigeria for the period 1999-2012. The main objectives are (1) To examine whether or not bank consolidation in Nigeria brought about increased lending to SME's.(2) Determine the level of lending risk to SME's .(3) Determine if there is any significant difference between SME's financing in pre and post consolidation in 2005.Data on commercial bank loans to SME's as percentage of total credit was the main variable used and were obtained from CBN Statistical Bulletin 2012. The mean, standard deviation descriptive statistics and the t-test tool were used for the analysis. The study found out that bank consolidation in Nigeria led to a drastic reduction of SME's financing to less than one percent (0.37%) on average. The lending riskiness of banks to SME's in post consolidation reduced while there is no significant difference between SME's financing in pre and post consolidation era. The results however go contrary to the much taunted belief that bank consolidation will lead to increased SME's financing in Nigeria. The study recommends improved transparency of SME's accounting and reporting of their activities, banks should relax some of the stringent lending measures to SME's while government should design policies that should group SME's in such a manner for proper identification and planning (specifically according to trade and industry) so that it can guarantee credit facilities and ensure prompt repayment through designated agencies.
Author Keywords: SME'S, Access to finance, Bank consolidation, Economic growth.
Idowu Eferakeya1
1 Lecturer, Department of Accounting, Banking & Finance, Delta State University, Asaba Campus, Asaba, Nigeria
Original language: English
Copyright © 2014 ISSR Journals. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
This paper examined the impact of bank consolidation on credit access and availability to small and medium scale enterprises (SME's) in Nigeria for the period 1999-2012. The main objectives are (1) To examine whether or not bank consolidation in Nigeria brought about increased lending to SME's.(2) Determine the level of lending risk to SME's .(3) Determine if there is any significant difference between SME's financing in pre and post consolidation in 2005.Data on commercial bank loans to SME's as percentage of total credit was the main variable used and were obtained from CBN Statistical Bulletin 2012. The mean, standard deviation descriptive statistics and the t-test tool were used for the analysis. The study found out that bank consolidation in Nigeria led to a drastic reduction of SME's financing to less than one percent (0.37%) on average. The lending riskiness of banks to SME's in post consolidation reduced while there is no significant difference between SME's financing in pre and post consolidation era. The results however go contrary to the much taunted belief that bank consolidation will lead to increased SME's financing in Nigeria. The study recommends improved transparency of SME's accounting and reporting of their activities, banks should relax some of the stringent lending measures to SME's while government should design policies that should group SME's in such a manner for proper identification and planning (specifically according to trade and industry) so that it can guarantee credit facilities and ensure prompt repayment through designated agencies.
Author Keywords: SME'S, Access to finance, Bank consolidation, Economic growth.
How to Cite this Article
Idowu Eferakeya, “Nigerian Small and Medium Scale Enterprises' Access To Finance: What is the story since Bank Consolidation in 2005,” International Journal of Innovation and Applied Studies, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 1111–1122, July 2014.
