This study investigated the effect of corporate governance on Financial Performance of commercial banks in Rwanda. The study has four objectives which determined how board size, CEO duality, institutional ownership, board composition affect financial performance of commercial banks in Rwanda. The study adopted a descriptive research design which assisted to examine the effect of corporate governance on financial performance of commercial banks. The population of the study was 120 composed by the senior managers of the commercials banks operating in Rwanda; and the sample size was 92 but only 76 responded to the questions asked which represent 84%.The key findings for this research were showing that board independence, board composition, institution ownership do not have an effect on financial performance since the majority of respondent have disagreed the effect of corporate governance variables on the financial performance of commercial banks. The analysis of variance has shown that corporate governance variables are not significant predictors to explain the increase of profitability represented by return on asset and return on equity since the p value was 0.447 and 0.186 respectively. This research has concluded that there is no effect between corporate governance using board size, board composition CEO duality as well as institutional ownership are not predictors of financial performance and recommended the regulatory body of commercial banks in Rwanda to provide a guidance on the use of corporate governance practices which may impact positively the financial performance of commercial banks
Keywords: Commercial Banks, Corporate Governance, Financial Performance
