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Harare - Barclays Bank has announced its intention to exit its Zimbabwean operations, which it said no longer fit its long-term core strategy.
In a notice published by Barclays Bank Zimbabwe on Wednesday, Barclays said its Zimbabwean operations will transfer to its non-core division, with an intention to sell in the future.
“Following the decision not to combine Barclays Zimbabwe with Barclays Africa Group Limited (the former Absa), the business is no longer a good fit with Barclays core strategy,” said Barclays.
“Once Barclays’ plan to combine Barclays Zimbabwe with Barclays Africa Group Limited had come to an end, it was logical that Barclays would consider where that business sat in its wider strategy,” said the statement.
Barclays Bank Zimbabwe, however, said it will continue to focus on providing customers and clients with the high standards of service they expect.
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) also published a statement on Barclays' intention to disinvest in nine jurisdictions, including Zimbabwe, over the next two or three years.
The RBZ assured stakeholders that at this stage Barclays strategy does not impact on the going concern status of Barclays Bank Zimbabwe in its everyday operations, and added that Barclays remains a safe and sound financial institution.
Barclays Zimbabwe has total equity amounting to US$54.2m.
For the period ended December 31 2015, the bank gave out loans amounting to $141m and had deposits to the tune of $233.9m.
The bank was profitable, with profit for that period amounting to $3.8m.
Barclays PLC also announced its intention to sell its 62.3% stake in Barclays Africa Group [JSE:BGA], the former Absa.
