The recent change in leadership involves the firing of Barclays CEO Antony Jenkins by executive chairman John McFarlane who took control of the position with an aim of boosting the bank’s revenue over the next three to four years.
The move follows its earlier announcement in March when it said that it was interested in buying the parent company’s operations in the two African countries.
Bloomberg quoted CEO of the Johannesburg-based bank Maria Ramos as saying: "Our ambition is to do the acquisition of both, and the management changes have confirmed that that ambition will be realized."
Barclays Africa bought its parent company’s operations in eight African countries in 2013 in an all-share deal and is currently working on standardizing technology across the continent and introducing investment-banking products.
While the Times recently reported that the bank intended to slash more than 30,000 jobs within the next two years, Barclays’ African operations are trying to expand and are unaffected by the planned job cuts, reported Bloomberg.
The bank is currently waiting for license approvals in Nigeria where it currently operates a representative office for its corporate and investment bank.
Image: The headquarter of Barclays Africa, formerly known as the ABSA Group in Johannesburg, South Africa. Photo: courtesy of PZFUN~commonswiki.
