Sanusi voiced confidence that banking sector reforms would continue after Vice President Goodluck Jonathan took over as acting president this week and dismissed rumors a committee had been set up to review the central bank's powers.

Sanusi said regulatory shortfalls, including at the central bank, had allowed liquidity to flow into capital markets at the expense of the real economy in the run-up to last year's bank crisis and monetary policy would aim to avoid a repeat scenario.

"The monetary policy committee will be targeting the twin issues of single-digit inflation and targeting asset bubbles," Sanusi told a banking conference in the commercial hub Lagos.

He said the central bank had received expressions of interest for all of the banks rescued in last year's bailout, including three or four from foreign investors.

Legislation to create an asset management company which could recover 500 billion naira in bad bank loans would be passed in the coming weeks and the firm would be up and running by the end of month, he said.

Soaking up bad loans in the rescued banks is key to making the banks attractive to the new investors the central bank is seeking to recapitalize them.

Sanusi said an obsession with rapid growth without the right frameworks in place to manage the accompanying risk had helped create last year's banking crisis and said not all Nigerian banks should aim to be international institutions.

He said the central bank was categorizing the country's banks and would issue a range of minimum capital requirements for the different categories.

He also said he was awaiting presidential approval for tax relief aimed at helping the development of the fledgling corporate bond market in sub-Saharan Africa's second biggest economy.