British banking giant Barclays Plc finally confirmed its planned exit from the African market on Tuesday, even as the local unit of the British lender gave guarantees to its customers “it is here to stay”.
Barclays chief executive Jes Staley rested months of speculation, saying the lender would sell its 62.3 per cent interest in the African business, Barclays Africa Group Ltd (BAGL), over the coming two to three years.
“As part of the simplification of the group, we have decided, subject to required shareholder and regulatory approval, to reduce our interest in Barclays Africa to a non-controlling, non-consolidated position over the next 2-3 years,” he said.
Barclays PLC owns 62.3 per cent of Barclays Africa Group, which in turn holds a controlling stake of 68.5 per cent of Barclays Bank of Kenya and stakes in 11 other operations in Africa.
The announcements came as Barclays Plc revealed annual losses after tax of Sh55 billion ($549 million), for the bank as a whole. Earlier, Mr Staley disclosed the British lender plans to split the company in two to form Barclays UK as well as Barclays Corporate and International.
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