3.11. Bank Age
Age of business affect the kind of investment and financing decisions. So much experience is acquired and companies which have been in business for long have good links and access to a lot of opportunities than new and upcoming ones. It is reported firms that have existed for long have less material internal control weakness (Tang, Tian & Yan, 2015). We hypothesize that:
Bank age significantly affect credit risk.
3.12. Profitability intent (Net Interest Margin)
Altman (1968) and Hillegeist, Keating, Cram and Lundstedt (2004) found that a company could probably fail if it is unprofitable and highly leveraged. In a bid to avoid failure, banks pursue efforts to be very profitable (Shumway, 2001). There are various measures of profitability but the nature of the study focuses so much on loan activities so the most appropriate measure of profitability is net interest margin. We argue that the tendency to maximize profits which is very common with management could affect the kind of assets created. We therefore hypothesize from these abstractions that:
Net Interest Margin significantly affects credit risk
3.13. Corporate restructuring
When companies are restructured through a merger or acquisition or by any kind, the rules of engagement may change including internal controls. Chen, Dong, Han and Zhou (2013) found evidence of relation between corporate restructuring and internal control practices. It is therefore likely that after a restructure, internal control systems might improve or deteriorate which can affect the loan decisions and credit risk. We therefore conjecture that:
Corporate restructuring significantly affects credit risk.
3.14. everage
The composition of debt in a bank’s capital structure exposes it to some consequences and especially when default rate is high, servicing these debts becomes a problem. Corporate