Nigeria moves to regulate its banks

Abuja: Nigerian commercial banks won’t be allowed to buy investment properties or offer loans and gifts to political parties under new industry rules, the central bank said.

Lenders will be banned from purchasing any real estate other than for their offices and branches, the Abuja-based Central Bank of Nigeria said. The rules come into effect on Monday.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country and biggest oil producer, is tightening laws after firing the chief executives of eight of the country’s 24 lenders last year after bad debts, much of them from loans to speculators in the local stock market, threatened the industry.