Risk Management in the Nigerian Banking Industry: A Case Study of Guaranty Trust Bank

Every organisation exists to provide value of its stakeholders, as a result they have to take make decisions that involves risks and they also have to take on some risks in order to deliver returns. Also, all banking institutions in the process of providing services face financial risk and failure to manage these risks can result in loss in earnings, failure to meet business objectives, these factors in general may hinder a bank’s inability to conduct its on-going business and business survival. As a result, the need to manage risk is very important within banking sectors. Embedding risk management into organisation’s decision-making process can be traced back to 1940’s, however companies began to look at how to manage financial risks in the 1970’s. Nevertheless, risk management is still not an easy task as it involves a comprehensive identification, measurement, monitoring and controlling the risks that an organisation faces in order to ensure that all individuals who take it or manage it understand it, ensure that the organisation’s exposure is within its appetite and risk taking decisions are in-line with an organisation’s business strategy. Also, given that banking sectors are highly regulated, authorities regulate most measures and procedures; this includes the Basel committee, central banks and government. This study explores the effectiveness of risk management in Guaranty Trust Bank (GT Bank) and also, the policies and procedures developed by the bank after the 2008 crisis. The study found that there is good risk management within GT Bank, however there are few weaknesses within the organisation in terms of compliance with internal and external regulations. Nevertheless, this cannot be used to make a generalization about the Nigerian banking industry