(Ecofin Agency) - Nigerian banking group Sterling Bank has ended talks to buy local bank Keystone Bank, Reuters reported on July 19 citing one the institution’s executive.

Keystone Bank is the last bank that Asset Management Corp of Nigeria (AMCON), state-backed bad bank established to clear assets of ten lenders hit by the 2009 financial crisis, is seeking to sell.

Sterling’s chief finance director, Abubakar Suleiman, said his group renounced to buying Keystone Bank after reviewing the institution, which was nationalized for failing to re-capitalize within deadlines set by the Central Bank of Nigeria, and concluding the “strategic fit not strong enough”.

Suleiman however emphasized that Sterling Bank will profit from the actual favorable context, which is marked by a severe depreciation of Naira and new regulatory requirements requesting that local banks increase their capital, to “swallow” one or two of its rivals. In the meantime, the group will issue N35billion of bonds to finance its growth strategy.

Listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Sterling Bank was created in 2006 as a result of a merger between five Nigerian banks: Nigeria Acceptances Ltd, Magnum Trust Bank, NBM Bank, Trust Bank of Africa and Indo-Nigeria Merchant Bank.