EFFECT OF CREDIT RISK MANAGEMENT ON THE PERFORMANCE OF MICROFINANCE BANKS IN NIGERIA

This study examined “effect of credit risk management on the performance of microfinance hanks in Nigeria ” using Nigeria Police Force (NPF) Microfinance Bank, Accion Microfinance Bank and Umuchinemere Microfinance Bank as sample studies. Specifically, the study sought to determine the effect of Total Loans and Advances on the performance of microfinance banks in Nigeria, to ascertain the effect of loan loss provision on the performance of microfinance banks in Nigeria, and to examine the effect of Non-performing Loans on the performance of microfinance banks in Nigeria. The study further examined the relationships of the independent variables with the underline dependent variables: Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE) and Return on Capital Employed (ROCE). Time series data were collected from published annual reports of the sampled banks from 2009 - 2018 and analyzed using Ordinary Least Square (OLS). Findings of the studies: revealed that loan loss provisions have no significant effect on the Returns on Assets (ROA) of sampled microfinance banks with R- squared of62.59%, Adjusted R-squared of62.59% andP- Value of 0.3176> 0.05. Non-performing loans have significant effect on Returns on Assets (ROA) of sampled microfinance banks with R- squared of 78.51%, Adjusted R-squared of 78.51% and P-value of 0.0300<0.05. Total loans and advances have significant effect on the Returns on Assets (ROA) with R- squared of58.08%, Adjusted R-squared of58.08% and P- value of0.0002< 0.05. Study recommends management of the sampled microfinance banks to increase total loans and advances ratio since increase in total loans advances ratio leads to increase in Returns on Assets (ROA). However, management must ensure loans are granted to customer's that are credit worthy.