Ecobank , the bank with operations in the most African countries, will sell equity in the first quarter of next year as it seeks to meet regulatory capital requirements for its Nigerian unit.
“The bank is looking at raising something in the neighborhood of $250 million before the end of March by private placement,” Chairman Emmanuel Ikazoboh said in an interview yesterday at his office in Lagos, the Nigerian commercial capital. Basel III liquidity regulations call for “huge capital and we have to meet the requirement,” he said.
The Central Bank of Nigeria in August ordered the largest Nigerian lenders to boost minimum capital ratios to 16 percent by March, compared with a previous benchmark of 11 percent. The government is preparing to implement Basel III requirements next year and increase the resilience of banks in Africa’s largest economy five years after saving the industry from collapse.
ETI, which operates in 36 African countries from its base in Lome, Togo, “will increase its issued capital and sell 25 percent to Nigerian investors to meet the regulatory capital,” Ikazoboh said. “Capital adequacy of the bank will rise to over 16 percent from between 11 and 12 percent at present,” he said
via@Bloomberg