Nigeria - Wema Bank Seeks 35 Bln Naira Capital By Year End

Nigerian regional lender Wema Bank aims to raise 35 billion naira ($222.22 million) in tier 1 capital by year-end, with a view to meeting requirements to become a national bank again, the bank said on Monday.

Wema, one of the lenders forced to recapitalise its operations by the central bank in the wake of a financial crisis, decided to meet tougher requirements by scaling down its business to become a regional bank in the 2009.

Regional banks can only operate in 6-12 of Nigeria's 36 states. They only need a 10 billion naira to meet the minimum capital base requirement, compared with 25 billion naira for national banks.

The lender said in a statement that it was at an advanced stage in raising the capital and that it had already secured commitments for 15 billion naira from core investors. ($1 = 157.5000 naira)