Given that financial reform has had, at best, limited developmental effect in the region, a research project on 'Financial Integration and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa' has been undertaken at ODI. This study set out to examine the performance of financial systems for resource mobilisation and intermediation for economic development in sub-Saharan Africa. Field work has been conducted in Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria and Tanzania, based on common questionnaires addressed to formal, semi-formal and informal institutions and borrowers.

This present paper is one of a series that will provide an initial presentation of results. It presents the Nigerian case study, reporting the results of the field work on the behavioural characteristics of formal financial organisations/agents and the operational constraints in urban and rural areas.