In partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Management Degree in Finance & Investment Management / The fragility of the banking sector and the systemic effects of bank failures coupled with the position banks occupy as the centre of financial and economic activity has called for effective regulatory reforms to ensure greater supervision and monitoring, prudent banking practices, financial stability and restoration of public confidence in the financial system. Therefore, this study is aimed at examining the spate of bank failures in Africa and the extent to which the introduction of regulatory reforms and prudential measures by regulatory authorities have impacted or helped in reducing the incidence of bank failures in Africa. To this end, the study looks at the various determinants of bank failures and fragility, indicators of financial soundness, the measures adopted so far in curbing bank failures and the resultant effect, the deficiencies in the existing reforms and regulations as well as policy recommendations for future studies. The study revealed that successful implementation of reforms is not limited to effective prudential approach & guidelines but largely influenced by Macro-economic conditions in the economy. For the purpose of performance evaluation and assessing the impact of regulatory reforms on the banking sector in Africa (Pre reform and Post reform), this study looks at a case study of some selected African countries namely Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, Uganda, Ghana to enable us have a clear insight on the performance of banks pre-reforms and post reforms. Keywords: Banking sector reforms, Financial intermediation, Banking crisis, Bank performance, Capital adequacy. / GR2018

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Management in Finance and Investment / Mitigating bank fragility provokes interest from governments, regulators, economists, and academia because have a “special role” in the development of an economy, hence the search for effective risk management tools. Basel framework provides risk management tools that use capital requirements, supervision and market discipline. However, this study examines the impact of regulatory capital requirements and macroeconomic variables on net interest margin (efficiency), equity to total assets (solvency), liquidity and growth to total assets for Botswana, Kenya, Mauritius, Namibia, Tanzania and Uganda in the periods 1999 to 2014. Given that the Basel Accords were initially designed for OECD countries; the argument is that they are not suited for African countries because they restrict the development agenda set by governments. However, the trend and regression analysis indicate that regulatory capital ratio has a significant impact on the equity to total assets ratio, liquidity and net interest margin demonstrating their effectiveness in minimising bank fragility. Conversely the results show that regulatory capital ratio does not have an effect on the growth to total assets, indicating that banks should be able to lend out to households and private sector to stimulate economic development. Additionally, the results show that an increase in GDP growth, a declining inflation rate, a falling real interest rate and an appreciating exchange rates have a significant influence on the financial soundness indicators / GR2018