EVALUATION OF METHODS FOR REGULATING THE BEHAV1OUR OF COMMERCIAL BANKS IN NIGERIA

EVALUATION OF METHODS FOR REGULATING THE BEHAV1OUR OF COMMERCIAL BANKS IN NIGERIA

Abstract:

Commercial banks as financial institutions, can and do contribute to economic growth and development Their effectiveness in performing this role however depends as to whether their operations and policies are in line with the demand-following approach or supply-leading approach to the development of financial institutions- This study is based on the theory that commercial banks while operating as profit maximizing institutions, do possess behaviour patterns on which the monetary authorities must act in order to ensure that the desired objectives of the economy are achieved. In Nigeria, the demand-following approach was adopted during the colonial period, but since independence, policy emphasis has shifted to supply-leading finance. This notwithstanding, the features of the banking system which emanated from the demand-following development still persist today among several other unsavourly effectso Based on the objectives of the economy ana the specific goals of the policy instruments, the regulatory methods deployed by the Central Bank have not been able to achieve their ultimate targets Indeed, the Bank has been saddled with regulatory tools which are in principle unapplicabla for the. purpose of stabilzing the economy. While it has experimented with some, it is yet to apply others. The structural circumstances of the economy have further rendered some, if not all, the ultimate objectives of policy unachievable.

EVALUATION OF METHODS FOR REGULATING THE BEHAV1OUR OF COMMERCIAL BANKS IN NIGERIA