Nigeria, Aug. 29 -- Nigeria's biggest lender by market value Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) raised the outstanding cash its banking unit needs to meet the N500 billion minimum regulatory capital that local banks with foreign subsidiaries now require to continue to operate abroad.

The corporation's rights issue sold 7 billion ordinary shares for a total consideration of N365.9 billion, it announced on Friday, and has handed the proceeds to Guaranty Trust Bank, its commercial banking business.

It is the third of Nigeria's five largest lenders in asset terms to reach the milestone, Access Holdings and Zenith Bank being the early birds.

"Through this capital injection, the share capital of GTBank has been increased from N138,186,703...