HARARE: Barclays Bank Plc, which owns 68 percent of Barclays Bank Zimbabwe Limited, is on Tuesday expected to announce its exit from Africa as it seeks to focus on the British and American markets.
This move could see Barclays ending its 104 year history in Zimbabwe, where it has run the second oldest bank after fellow British bank Standard Chartered.
Below is a pen-pix of Barclays’ Zimbabwe operation:
Type of bank: Commercial Bank
Date of establishment: 1912
1912; Opened first branch after Bank of Africa was acquired by National bank of South Africa and effectively became Barclays Bank controlled from South Africa.
1928; as the business grew, the first Barclays Committee was established, responsible for local controls based in Bulawayo. 10 branches were opened by that time.
1956; Barclays was the first bank to introduce computers making banking service delivery increasingly efficient. During that time Barclays was implementing a comprehensive training programme running between 1951-1958.
1960; Barclays was the first to introduce the first night safe and safe deposit facility featured on its newly established 8-storey head office in Harare built out of diamante sandstone on a black granite plinth and designed by Francis Lorne.
1987; the first country branch was established in Gokwe officially opened by the then Deputy Prime Minister who praised Barclays for heeding the government’s call to bring banking to rural people.
1991; Barclays was the first financial institution to offer 30% of its shares to the public in an effort to encourage Zimbabwe to become first time investors. The issue was oversubscribed five-fold and caused a record rise in stock market prices.
1993; Barclays was one of the only two banks to have installed ATMs to improve service delivery and by the end of that year had 50 ATMs.
2008-2012; Barclays rationalised its support structures and foot print in line with business levels obtaining which resulted in reduction in fulltime employees from a peak of 1,423 in January 2008 to around 700 currently.
Ownership: Barclays Bank of Zimbabwe Limited is a subsidiary of Barclays Bank plc, which is the majority shareholder of the bank. It is locally registered and is a publicly quoted company with the investing public holding 32.04% shares.Advertisement
Major shareholders in the bank AS AT 30 JUNE 2014 are:
Afcarme Zimbabwe Holding PL 67.68%
Old Mutual Life Assurance LTD 4.50%
STANDARD CHARTERED NOMINEES (PVT) LTD –NNR 3.03%
FED NOMINEES (PVT) LTD 2.42%
Chairman: Mr Anthony Mandiwanza
Chief Executive Officer: Mr. George Guvamatanga
Auditors : KPMG Chartered Accountants
Number of employees: 713
Number of branches : 28
Source: RBZ
