More than ten commercial banks have collapsed in Uganda in the last two decades due to problems such as frauds, insider lending by dominant shareholders, weak boards of directors, non-performing loans portfolios, and managerial opportunism. This paper aims to investigate the impact of corporate governance on commercial banks’ performance in Uganda. The study adopted a survey-based approach to purposively collect data from the respondents of all licensed commercial banks in Uganda at the time of the study. Data was collected using a self-administered research instrument on the most emphasized corporate governance variables of board composition, board size, capital adequacy ratio, and the independent audit committee for the performance of banks. The data quality control was ensured by establishing the internal consistency of the research instrument that resulted in an overall Cronbach’s reliability coefficient of 0.78. The data was analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression analysis statistical technique after controlling for bank size and leverage. Using an alpha level of 0.05, the study found that the change in R-squared was 27.9% with a non-significant change in F (4,14) = 1.64, p = 0.219. Secondly, for the whole model F (6,14) = 1.587, p = 0.223 which signified that was no significant impact of corporate governance on commercial banks’ performance in Uganda while controlling for bank size and leverage. In order to improve bank performance in Uganda, the central bank should step up the supervisory and regulatory policies. This would involve proactive strategies such as regular review of corporate governance instruments like the Financial Institutions Corporate Governance Regulations (2005) so as to counteract any new threats to the banking sector which could render these instruments ineffective.
Keywords: Commercial Banks, Corporate Governance, Performance, Uganda
