April 13, 2015/Reuters

Nigeria’s FBN Holdings said on Monday it expects loan growth at its banking unit to slow to 4 percent this year, down from 23 percent last year, as it shifts focus to short-term trade finance transactions.

Chief Executive Bello Maccido said the top tier lender, with over 2.2 trillion naira ($11 billion) on its loan book, will be conservative on loans in 2015 after financing power and oil sectors last year but income will rise from short-term lending.

Maccido said he expected FBN Holdings to generate a tenth of its revenues from its investment banking and insurance units combined by 2016, up from around 7 percent now, after it acquired Kakawa Discount House and Oasis Insurance last year.