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Barclays completes Absa transition

Kabelo Adamson
NEW LOOK: Absa Bank Botswana

The start of the week saw Barclays Bank Botswana finally complete its transition to Absa Bank Botswana Limited.

The name change comes almost four years after main shareholder Barclays PLC announced it was ending its presence in Africa following 100 years in the continent.

Barclays PLC, a London based lender, was a 63.2 percent majority shareholder in Barclays Africa Group Limited (BAGL), which in turn operated in a number of African markets such as Botswana, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Ghana.

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Since the March 2016 announcement, Barclays PLC gradually reduced its controlling stake and has now become a minority shareholder.

In July 2018, Barclays changed its name back to Absa after the London bank sold the majority of its shares, which were primarily acquired by South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation.

The rebranding exercise was soon rolled out across the continent, with local operations starting their own rebranding late last year.

This came after local shareholders had in June 2019 approved changing the company’s name.

The bank also announced this week that it has obtained approval from the Companies and Intellectual Property Authority (CIPA) for the name change.

Despite the new look, the bank’s executives have stressed operations will continue as they did under the previous name.

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According to the bank’s Public and Media Relations Manager, Spencer Moreri, the whole separation exercise for local operations cost a total of P16 million as of June 2019.

However, as the company is still on closed period, Moreri explained that the final amount spent will only be disclosed when Absa releases its financial results, which is expected to take place next month.

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