It is a giant leap forward for Barclay’s vision of being a banking powerhouse on the African continent. It has had a small-scale operation in South Africa since 1995, but the acquisition of Absa gives it critical mass, particularly on the retail side, in Africa’s biggest economy. Barclays’ head for Africa and the Middle East, Dominic Bruynseels, said the deal improves Barclays’ competitive position on the continent.
“South Africa is obviously very important in terms of the inward investments that are occurring into Africa,” said Mr Bruynseels. “A lot of the companies doing that either use South Africa as a regional base or are South African. What we want to do is access those flows which will give a long-term sustainable future to our African businesses as well.” The bank has already been feeling competitive pressure from large South African banks like Standard Bank.
