Effects of Bank Mergers and Acquisitions on SmalludBusiness Lending in Nigeria

摘要

Merger and Acquisition (M&A) is one of the instruments of the recent banking reforms in Nigeria. One ofudthe implications of the reform is its effect on the lending to small businesses, which was divided intoudstatic and dynamic effect (restructuring, direct and external) in this study. Data were collected by crosssectionaludsurvey research design and were subsequently analyzed by the ordinary least square method.udThe analyses show that bank size, financial characteristics and deposit of non-merged banks areudpositively related to small business lending, while for merged banks the reverse is the case. From theudabove result, it is evident that M&A have not only static effect on small business lending but alsouddynamic effect, therefore, given the central position of small businesses in the current governmentudpolicy on industrialization of Nigeria, policy makers in Nigeria should consider both the static anduddynamic effects of M&A on small business lending in their policy thrust. JEL: G21