Venezuelan banks threatened

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said yesterday he would nationalise private banks unless they complied with the law. In a broadcast he said: “I have no problem with that because the banks don't want to extend credit to the poor.” He added: “To all the country’s private bankers... I'm saying he who slips up loses; I'll take over the bank, whatever its size.” Chavez said the purpose of banks was not to enrich a small group of people but “should be to collect funds and savings to help aid the country's development by making loans, extending credits for housing.”