Corporate Governance Disclosure and Financial Performance of Deposit Money Banks in Nigeria

Given that a key mechanism of corporate governance is corporate disclosure, this study, anchored on agency theory and stakeholder theory, examined the effect of corporate governance disclosure on the financial performance of deposit money banks quoted on the Nigeria Stock Exchange. Based on the provisions of the Code of Corporate Governance for Public Companies in Nigeria, 2011 and the Code of Corporate Governance for Banks and Discount Houses 2014, the study developed a disclosure checklist and employed content analysis method to extract corporate governance from 78 annual reports of thirteen Nigerian deposit money banks from 2011 to 2016. The study categorized corporate governance disclosure into three – corporate governance disclosure on board of directors, corporate governance disclosure on risk framework, and corporate governance disclosure on whistle blowing policy. It constructed an overall corporate governance disclosure index as well as sub-indices corresponding to the three categories of corporate governance disclosure. The study formulated ten hypotheses and ranked ordinary least square methods of multiple regressions to explore the relationship between corporate governance disclosure and the financial performance of deposit money banks in Nigeria. The result showed a positive and significant association between overall corporate governance disclosure and the financial performance of deposit money banks in Nigeria. The result of the OLS regressions also supported a positive effect of corporate governance disclosure on board of directors and whistle blowing policy on the financial performance of the deposit money banks in Nigeria. Contrary to expectation, the study failed to document a significant association between corporate governance disclosure on risk framework and financial performance of deposit money banks. This study has contributed empirically to the body of knowledge by providing broader understanding of the effect of corporate governance disclosure on the financial performance of a critical sector of the Nigerian economy. Methodologically, the study is one of the few that developed disclosure checklist based on the provisions of both codes of corporate governance of Securities and Exchange Commission and Central bank of Nigeria and employed ranked OLS.