According to Paget (1998), a renowned banker he defined banks as “a corporation or person (or persons) who accepts money on current account, pays cheques on such account in demand and collects cheques for customers.”

Banks are financial institutions that are charged with the responsibility of funds intimidation. They act as a go-between the simples funds sources and deficit fund services. They equally act as “a dealer in capital or more properly a dealer in money as we defined by Gulbert (1995) in performing this function, they engage themselves with deposit acceptance and granting of loans and advances to any needy sector of the economy or individual. Investors and industrialist. The banks are not charcterable organization, hence they render these services with the motive of profit making.

The banks in performing this very important duty they are faced with myriad of problems that grows in bounds everyday in consonance with the dynamic nature of Nigerian economy and growth. Their major problem emanated from the fact that those customers to whom the banks lend money on agreed terms and condition default to repay on maturity, thereby putting a wedge on the wheel of both profit making objectives of the banks, credit expansion within the system for economic activities and continual operations of the bank. This granted into bad debts.

In the pre-independence era when few banks dominated the industry, cases of loan default and bad debt were very minimal, of course, the banks management and loan grants were carefully studied before actual disbursement by the expatriates.

Today, management of many Merchant Banks are worried by the trend of incidence of loan defaulters and bad debt been recorded. Still decisive and obvious action have not been taken by them to at least its impact on their operations and the effect on the economy at large which is the purpose of this study to proffer effective suggestions on how to bring under control rate of bad in merchant banks and particularly Ivory Merchant Bank.

Financial analysts all over the world agree that bad debt and loan default cannot be completely eliminated in banking industry but a constant check can be kept over every factor capable of generating this ugly experience to most financial and non-financial institutions that engaged in funds intermediation directly or indirectly.

It is note worthy to state here that some merchant banks in Nigeria apparently faced by an increasingly hostile business environment are applying to the Central Bank of Nigeria to convert to commercial banks had applied to C.B.N. as at end of October, 1993.

Incidence of loan default in merchant banking, a very important sub-sector leaves nobody any comfort, hence the researcher’s interest in searching the immediate and remote causes of bad debts and how to remedy the ugly experience so that the public confidence could be restored to the financial sector.

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

While reading through journals, weekly financial and business papers, on the rate of increase in number of distress and liquidating banks, the researcher was pulled into imaging that would become of the financial system in the future if dotting is deliberately done to rescue the situation. We are ignorant of the abysmal value of currency” Naria” in the past few years up to date, would you reason out that we cannot build the Nigeria of our dream if this is coupled with constant bank liquidation and failure.

Bank lending by way of loans, over draft, financing capital intensive projects by way of loan syndication, trade credit finance all over the world. The process of financial intermediation is assuming complex dimension. As they try the live up to expectation in this regard they (banks) are confronted with unacceptable pill of loan defaults. When granted loans are dues for payment and without it been actually paid, such loans are regarded as being defaulted, hence analysis of the incidence of loan default in Merchant banking.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

There is no doubt the difficulties confronting the banking industry today in Nigeria. Every bank is striking to at least keep pace with others. In their daily dealings as conduct pipe for money, whereby they aggregated funds and disaggregate them it the investing public, they are met with hitches of defaults on the part of loans and advances beneficiaries to meet their obligations have serious consequence on the lending banker.

Therefore the banks are expected to do something very urgently to address the problems so as to forestall it lending them to distress. The failure to refund money borrowed by customers have big adverse effect on banking operations. Such call for study and investigation, so that the solution could be proffered.

1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY

(1) To identity the causes of loan default

(2) To identify the level of incidence of loan default and bad debt.

(3) To determine the extent of monitoring by merchant banks of projects for which they extended loans.

(4) To identify the effects of loan of default in merchant banks.

(5) To make recommendations can how loan default and bad debt will be minimized or eliminated.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS