SAO PAULO: Brazil's central bank said on Monday it was removing incentives for banks to buy up loan portfolios from smaller lenders sooner than originally planned, starting to make changes this month that were going to be phased in starting in February 2014.

In recent years the central bank has given banks higher returns on their reserve requirements to encourage the acquisition of small lenders' loan books, a policy that should now be entirely reversed by March 2014.

The central bank also said in a news release that it has injected more than 46 billion reais ($20.6 billion) into Brazil's smaller financial institutions since 2011.

Copyright Reuters, 2013