BARCLAYS IS ENDING ITS PRESENCE IN AFRICA AFTER 100 YEARS

Absa Chief Executive Officer Maria Ramos.

Barclays Africa Group Ltd. is no more. And with that a chapter closes on its former British parent’s 100-year history on the continent.

The lender on Wednesday ditched the name to revert to Absa Group Ltd. as it severs ties with Barclays Plc after the London-based company sold down the controlling stake it bought in 2005. The Johannesburg-based company has already begun reorganizing its operations to further distance itself from the U.K. firm.

Absa Chief Executive Officer Maria Ramos, 59, in April refocused the lender around four divisions -- retail and business banking, corporate and investment banking, rest of Africa and wealth management and insurance -- in a bid to double its share of revenue from its African operations and regain market share in the South African retail market. The restructuring started with halving the number of executives at the retail and business banking unit last month.

"Barclays has been a very big brand in Africa, not in South Africa necessarily, but in the rest of Africa," said Adrian Cloete, a portfolio manager at PSG Wealth. "That means they’re going to have to spend more on their brand there when they brand back to Absa."

Barclays CEO Jes Staley cut his lender’s stake in Absa down to below 15 percent as he sought to conserve capital and focus on rebuilding the company’s investment bank. Barclays can trace its history in South Africa back to 1919 when it bought National Bank of South Africa, giving it units across the continent. It quit the country in 1986, when it was the biggest lender in the country, as protests against racial segregation mounted.

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