Business News of Thursday, 1 March 2018
Source: Myjoyonline.com
2018-03-01
The change of name to Absa group will take a period of two years to be completed
Barclays Africa is to change its brand name to Absa Group subject to the necessary regulatory and shareholder approval.
Group Chief Executive Maria Ramos disclosed this to journalists on Thursday. The move confirms an earlier report by JoyBusiness that the Bank would be rebranded.
She told JoyBusiness’ George Wiafe that the move would also affect the Ghana unit and result in a name change.
The change of name, she said, could take up to two years to be completed.
Financial result
Barclays Africa Group, has released its first annual financial results since the successful conclusion of the reduction by Barclays PLC of its majority shareholding in Barclays Africa Group last year.
The Group reported a 4% increase in headline earnings in 2017 as impairments declined substantially from a high base in 2016. Return on equity of 16.4% remains strong.
Headline earnings, a measure analysts use to gauge profitability, grew despite the continued slow economic expansion in some of the Group’s largest markets, including South Africa, where the Group generates approximately 80% of its income.
Barclays Africa Group continues to have solid balance sheet assets of R1.2 trillion and strong capital and liquidity levels – these are measures of the strength of buffers banks have in place to protect customer deposits.