The series of financial crisis that have been experienced in both the developed and developing countries showed the importance of having well-functioning financial systems as financial crises directly affect the health of a country’s economy. Many banks had collapsed or experienced serious financial constraints both in Nigeria and the rest of the world due to their continuous exposure to severe operational risk events and fraudulent actions and these have continued to be major threat to the banks. This study investigated the effect of operational risk management on financial stability of deposit money banks in NigeriaThe study employed ex-post facto research design. The population comprised twenty-two licensed deposit money banks in Nigeria as at September 30th, 2018. A total sample of eleven deposit money banks were selected using convenient sampling method and data covering 2009 to 2018 were sourced from the audited and published financial statements of these sampled deposit money banks. Certification of the financial statements by external auditors and regulators and the approval by the board of directors confirm the reliability of the data. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics.The results showed that operational risk management had negative significant relationship with financial stability of the selected banks in Nigeria (F(3,106)= 24.46, Adj. R2= 0.4091, p < 0.05). Specifically, Non-performing loan to total loan ratio, cost to income ratio and total loan and advances to total deposit ratio have significant relationship on the variables of financial stability of deposit money banks in Nigeria proxied by Capital Adequacy Ratio (F(3,106)= 18.23, Adj. R2= 0.316, p < 0.05), Return on Equity (F(3,106)= 22.52, Adj. R2= 0.389, p < 0.05) and Liquidity Ratio (F(3,106)= 22.45, Adj. R2= 0.389, p < 0.05)The study concluded that operational risk management influences the financial stability of selected deposit money banks in Nigeria. The study recommended, among others, that banks should improve their operational risk management practices and policies in order to maintain sound capital adequacy and sustainable financial stability.
Keywords: Capital Adequacy Ratio, Deposit Money Banks, Liquidity Ratio, Non-Performing Loans, Return on Equity, cost to income ratio, financial stability, operational risk management
