Abstract:

Financial management crisis around the world has proven that risk management practices are indispensable for organisations that aim at sustaining customer and shareholder patronage. The examples of Enron, WorldCom, Parmalat, Tyco, Barings Empire, Daiwa Bank debacle, and the recent N192 billion naira stimulation fund injected by the Governor Central Bank of Nigeria Sanusi Lamido into the banking sector to save ailing banks and the economy at large proved to us that effective risk management in banking operations cannot be compromised. This study investigated the impact of effective risk management on bank’s financial performance. The Ordinary least square Regression was employed in testing the hypothesis formulated. Data was collected from the annual reports of banks listed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange. The study observed that there exist a negative non-significant relationship between risk management proxies and bank’s performance as captured with return on equity. Thus financial performance cannot be explained away by the compliance or non-compliance to Basel’s regulation by financial institutions, but could be as a result of the accumulation of minor difficulties and inconsequential malfunction of the individual actors resulting in a massive breakdown.