ABSTRACT
The study examined determinants of profitability of deposit money banks in Nigeria. Branch network, IT deployment and number of staff were used as independent variables while Return on Asset (ROA) was used as a proxy of profitability which served as dependent variable in the study. This study adopted a descriptive research design; and sampled six (6) deposit money banks listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in using purposive sampling technique. First Bank, Union Bank, UBA Bank, GT Bank, Zenith Bank and Access Bank were surveyed in the study. The study used secondary data obtained from annual financial statements of the listed deposit money banks and respective banks’ annual report between the periods of 2006 and 2019(14 years). Panel regression was used to analyze the data. The study found that branch network has positive but insignificant effect on ROA of deposit money banks in Nigeria while IT deployment and number of staff were found to have positive and significant effect on ROA of deposit money banks in Nigeria. The study recommend that management of deposit money banks in Nigeria should improve branch networks and install internet services and other modern equipment so as to aid the operations and services of the branches in order to encourage customers to keep banking with them and improve their return on asset. Key words: Branch network, IT deployment, number of staff, profitability