THE EFFECT OF BANKING REGULATION AND RESERVE ON THE PERFORMANCE OF COMMERCIAL BANK (A CASE STUDY OF UNION BANK)

CHAPTER ONE

1.0     INTRODUCTION

During 1892, to 1952 of the free-Banking Era, there are no laws, rules or regulation guiding the operational activities of the commercial banks.  That single era produced many banks, which did not meet up the specifications and dictates of modern banking.  And from 1957 to 2005, remainable changes have been provoked and witnessed in the Nigeria financial environment.  It is in 1952 that the first Banking ordinance was introduces, vesting the control of banking in the financial secreting the colonialist.  Consequently the Central Bank of Nigeria was established on March 17th 1958 by the central bank ordinance of that year.

The Central Bank of Nigeria in its endeavors to create enabling banking environment seeks outlet upon indirect control mechanism such as reserve requirement stabilization of securities, open market operations (0m0), and interest rate policy, periodic moral suasion and other prudent ratios, such as capital fund adequacy and legal landing limit to improvise. 

The recent development in the Nigeria Commercial Banking system has added force to the CBN efforts to enhance the quality of banking operations.  The “merge and Acquisition” system of 2004 propose by the CBN advances and samples the general problems inherent and also takes a giant student towards solving or reducing the anomaly to manageable proportion.

The mechanism traced the program (SAP) of 1986.  It is also worthy of note that the commercial banking sector has expensed a tremendous growth pattern, since the advent of SAP, in 1986 both in terms of the number of new entrants into the industry and the volume of business transactions.  The total of commercial banks and their branches offices increased from 29 to 1,367 as at December 31st, 1986.  It is said to note that the geometric growth trend is lingering menace to the banking industry.

1.1     STATEMENT OF PROBLEM              

Banking laws and regulations are meant to guide the operations of banks in Nigeria.  In spite of the operation of their laws banks especially commercial banks are not finding their laws feet in the economy as evidenced by recent banks failures.