Exploring the Determinant Factors of Bank‘s Net Earnings

The paper examines the determinants of bank net earnings defined as profit after tax and deductibles in selected banks in Nigeria. Data used were extracted from balance sheets and income statement accounts and analyzed with the Ordinary Least square regression model. The results confirmed that customer’s deposits and reserves all impacted positively on the net earnings but only one bank’s customers deposit was statistically significant. Also the reserves of two banks were significant. Other variables like loan and advances was negatively related to net earnings contrary to a prior expectation but one bank’s loan and advances was statistically significant. Lastly, bad and doubtful debt has the negative expected sign with two banks being statistically significant. Overall the fit of the model was good. It was therefore recommended that banks should be prudent in advancing loans to their customers.