Nigeria's Zenith Bank (ZENITHB.LG: Quote) said on Thursday it planned to divest its non-banking subsidiaries in order to comply with new regulations issued by the central bank last year. [ID:nLDE68C16Y]

The central bank has stopped issuing universal banking licences and started enforcing new minimum capital requirements for lenders in a bid to avoid a repeat of 2009's near collapse of several banks. [ID:nLDE68C0X7]

Zenith Bank said in a statement it would seek shareholder approval on April 15 to apply for an international banking licence, which has a higher minimum capital requirement than other categories, and divest non-banking subsidiaries.

The new banking model requires lenders to sell all non-core businesses and form a holding company if they intend to carry out insurance, asset management and capital market activities.

The regulator has said its primary objective is to ensure banks are effectively supervised and to ensure the safety of depositors' funds by prohibiting them from speculative capital market activities.

Nigeria's Zenith Bank to divest non-banking units