CORPORATE FINANCIAL HEALTH AND PERFORMANCE OF FIRMS IN THE BANKING SECTOR OF NIGERIA
The financial health of banking firms in Nigeria is an issue that every stakeholder should be very much concerned about. No one knows the next bank that will be sold by the National deposit insurance cooperation to Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON) who has bought and supervised the sales of distressed banks since its inception in 2010. The study examined the corporate financial health of fourteen Nigerian banks and its impact on performance from 2008 to 2018. The Z score of the banks is above the 2.9 benchmarks of the safe zone indicating sound financial health. Nevertheless, it was detected that the bank's performance as measured by return on equity (ROE) was affected by the bank's financial health. The study contributes to the empirical literature on the relationship between corporate financial health and corporate performance of banking firms in Nigeria. More specifically, the study contributes to existing literature validating financial health as a predictor of firm performance in the Nigerian banking industry. Key words: Financial health; Bank Performance; Nigeria, Banks; Altman Z score