The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said in London on Friday that foreign investor banks will be allowed to buy stakes in Nigerian banks, according to the report of the Lagos-based Daily Independent newspaper on Saturday.
Lamido Sanusi, the CBN governor, disclosed this when addressing international banks, lenders and rating agencies in London. He also pledged to prevent any of the country's banks from failing.
"There is no law that stops foreign banks from owning banks in Nigeria 100 percent and we won't stop foreign banks buying Nigerian banks," he said.
The apex bank governor also promised that Nigeria will go after every single debtor to the troubled banks.
Sanusi denied that there were plans by the Nigerian federal government to take over the banks, adding that the apex bank will guarantee all the debts of the five lenders.
He said it is good for the economy to have foreign and local banks, noting that bad loan provisions for banks will increase this quarter and he expected them to have strong profit growth at the end of the year.
He said the CBN may keep interest rates unchanged next week after it pumped 420 billion naira (about 2.6 billion U.S dollars) into the economy to support failing banks.
"We don't have to cut rates," said Sanusi.
The country's apex bank governor recently removed heads of Afribank, Intercontinental Bank, Union Bank, Oceanic Bank and Finbank for piling up billions of dollars in bad debts.
Source:Xinhua
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