EU to back Nigerian lenders

The EU’s long-term lending arm is to provide €240m to three Nigerian banks to help finance vital infrastructure projects, amid dramatic reforms to the country’s troubled banking sector. The European Investment Bank’s biggest funding package in sub-Saharan Africa to date will be shared equally between First Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank, two of Nigeria’s top lenders, and Stanbic IBTC, the local unit of South Africa’s Standard Bank Group, Africa’s largest bank by assets.