In recent years, financial institutions especially universal/commercial banks across Africa have been faced with forceful mergers and acquisitions. These occurrences impede the level of financial inclusion and reduces public confidence in the financial system as a whole. This study assessed the effect of credit and operational risk on the financial performance of universal banks in the context of the structural equation model (SEM). Data were collected from all the 24 universal banks in Ghana without missing variables and using the PLS-SEM, the results showed that credit risk influences financial performance negatively contrary to the empirical study but in line with the information asymmetry tenant of the lemon theory. It was also found that operational risk influences the financial performance of the universal banks in Ghana negatively. Furthermore, the study indicated that bank specific variables measured by (asset quality, bank leverage, cost to income ratio and liquidity) significantly influence credit risk, operational risk as well as the financial performance of the universal banks positively. We recommend that banks ABOUT THE AUTHORS

This study contrasts empirical studies which had focused on listed bank at the detriment of unlisted banks. In other to enhance public confidence in the banking sector and ensure financial inclusion, this study examined the relationship between leverage and performance of unlisted banks in Ghana. This study examined the relationship between leverage, other moderating variables and bank performance by collecting data from fifteen unlisted universal banks in Ghana from 2006 to 2016. The cross sectional time series research design with the quantitative research approach was adopted for the study. The fixed effect panel regression was used to analysis the variables from the data collected. The outcome of the study showed that unlisted banks in Ghana are highly leveraged with more debt to equity. The results also indicated that the level of gearing for unlisted banks has a positive relationship with the bank performance variables which are return on asset, return on equity and rate of profit. This is attributed to the cost of debt and type of debts that are contracted by the unlisted banks coupled with the efficiency in transforming such debts into less risky asset. The correlation and regression result showed a significant positive relation between firm size and bank performance. The study recommends that stakeholders of the banking industry must be concerned with the utilization of debts effectively and efficiently to enhance an optimal leverage ratio that could stand the risk of highly geared bank in a more integrated financial system. To achieve this, the regulators of the banking industry in Ghana must develop policies that seek to inject more equity funds in the operation of banks; guides in asset management and effective cost control in relation to leverage. This will boast the efficiency of the banking industry in their intermediation role.

It is an established fact that the Covid-19 pandemic had a persistent economic uncertainty effect than health uncertainty. In this study, the researchers examined the effects of expanding sales online on the financial resilience of enterprises in sub-Sahara Africa (SSA) during the economic downturn. The researchers measured financial resilience by the extent of sales and cash-flows decline during the pandemic. The researchers collected 4751 unweighted data from the World Bank’s Enterprise Survey and it Covid-19 follow-up survey. Findings from the bivariate probit model and the predictive margin probabilities showed that most enterprises in SSA adopted or expanded proportion of sales online during the pandemic. Increasing the proportion of online sales exerted a decreasing effect on sales and cash-flow declines and thus improved financial resilience at a threshold of 40% during the pandemic. Large enterprises were observed to be more resilient than small and medium enterprises, yet domestic and foreign enterprises had the same level of financial resilience during the pandemic. For enterprises in Africa to realise the 40% threshold of online sales, the researchers encourage enterprises to invest in advertisement for product legitimacy.

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