Following the recent announcement by Barclays PLC (LSE:BARC), to sell its 62.3% stake in Barclays Africa Group Limited (BAGL) (JSE:BGA) over the coming two to three years, Kihara Maina, Barclays Bank Tanzania (BBT) Managing Director, has publicly disclosed that a merger with the National Bank of Commerce Tanzania (NBC), in which BAGL owns 55% ownership “will enable us to remain a mutual community bank while operating greater benefits to our customers, employees and community”.
This seems in line with Barclays Africa Group CEO Maria Ramos’ announcement that the Group is not exiting operations in any of its African markets.
“Barclays Africa has brought together 12 banks across the continent and Barclays Plc’s stake sale will not affect the customer’s network in Tanzania” explained Ramos through a company’s statement.
Meanwhile, David Hodnett, the group’s COO, added that they are closely working with the BoT to ensure a sustainable way to carry out operations after both banks are merged.
Barclays Africa Group currently employs 42,000 people in 1,251 branches deployed in 12 different countries where the bank serves its 12 million customers.
According to the group’s latest financial statement, BBT accounts for 0.58% of the total customers while NBC accounts for 4.38% of the total base.
BBT posted a loss of TZS 3.6 billion in the first three quarters of 2015 up from a loss of TZS 0.90 billion in the same period of 2014.
On the other hand, NBC recorded a profit income of over TZS 11 billion in the first three quarters of 2014 while in the Q1-2015 it recorded profits for TZS 2.8 billion according to the bank’s latest financial statements.
In terms of branches, BBT totals 25 employing 470 people while NBC totals 52 and employs 1,288 people, the second largest operation of Barclays Africa in East Africa after Kenya with 125 branches employing 2,592 people.
According to the latest available information at BOT there are currently 36 licensed banks operating in Tanzania 6 Financial Institutions and 2 Financial Leasing Companies for a population of about 50 million.
