Barclays is joining Citigroup Inc. and UBS AG in targeting millionaire clients in Nigeria and Ghana, as the continent’s fastest-growing economies swell.
It was learnt that Barclays will look at developing a presence in Nigeria, the region’s second-biggest economy, its Chief Financial Officer, David Hodnett, said.
The merger of Barclays’ assets with Absa Group Limited in South Africa gives Barclays Africa 1,200 branches across the continent, 45,000 staff, more than 10,000 Automated Teller Machine (ATMs) and increased access to the continent’s estimated 128 million consumer households, Barclays’ Chief Executive Officer, Maria Ramos, said in a presentation in Johannesburg.
“Using Barclays’ technology instead of developing new systems means products, including those for wealth management, and can be rolled out at low cost,” she said.
Barclays Africa Group, in which the London-based bank will hold a 62.3 percent stake, is seeking to build on experience managing wealth in South Africa after acquiring eight African operations previously run by its parent. The expansion would depend on regulators in countries like Kenya, Ghana and Mauritius, explained Ramos.
“It’s potentially a very exciting opportunity,” Ramos said in an interview in Johannesburg on July 30.
According to a report published on 18 June, 2013, by Cap Gemini SA and Royal Bank of Canada, the number of Africans with at least $1 million of investible assets climbed 9.9 percent to 140,000 in 2012. That was the fastest rate of increase outside North America as the economies of countries such as Nigeria and Ghana grew at more than 5 percent last year.
“It’s a great time for private banking, wealth management and asset management in Africa,” Mark Mobius, who oversees $53 billion as executive chairman of Templeton Emerging Markets Group, said in an interview on June 28.
About 42 percent of the millionaires in Africa and the Middle East are prioritizing wealth accumulation, a higher proportion than in North America, Europe or Asia, the Cap Gemini report showed.
UBS, the world’s biggest wealth manager, said in May that it would expand its operations in Africa as economic growth rates boost demand. The industries contributing most to wealth creation on the continent include the resources, telecommunications and consumer industries.
Africa’s increasing wealth presents an opportunity, said Donna Oosthuyse, the Head of Citigroup in South Africa. “In our private bank, we have officers who are dedicated to Africa and in our international personal bank,” she said on July 25.
“Just as we see international companies needing international capabilities, so do individuals.”
Economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa is projected to accelerate to 5.9 percent in 2014 from 5.1 percent this year, the Washington-based International Monetary Fund said on July 9, 2013.
Source: Daily Newswatch
