Barclays Bank of Kenya completed its transition journey to Absa this week with a confirmation of approval from the Central Bank of Kenya and the change over of its share ticker at the Nairobi Securities Exchange from BBK to Absa.
This was the conclusion of a three-year journey that has seen Absa rebrand all Barclays operations across Africa under one name after Barclays had reduced its shareholding to under 15% and seen Barclays Africa renamed as the Absa Group.
Geoffrey Odundo the CEO of the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) said that Barclays was one of their key listed banking stocks and its shareholders had seen good returns with Barclays being the best performing bank share last year. The bank had also been a key partner that has helped the NSE with product development and market development.
James Ndegwa, Chairman of Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority, said Barclays, which traced its history in the Country to 1916 when the National Bank of South Africa opened a branch in Mombasa, had become the first commercial bank to offer shares to the public in a 1986. He called on the bank to float more shares as he said the NSE had struggled to attract new listings, with daily trading dominated by a few companies.
Jeremy Awori CEO of Absa Bank Kenya said that, as part of one of Africa largest financial groups, they aimed to connect the dreams and aspirations of Kenyans with the financial resources to achieve these. Aside from enhancing financing for SME’s and offering the country’s lowest mortgage rate of 11.75%, he said that Absa which had recently launched the first vertical (debit & credit) cards in Kenya and received a new license for asset management, would soon launch a chatbot, and an online toolkit for small business owners.
Other guests at the event that was held at the Nairobi Securities Exchange included Daniel Mminele, the new CEO of Absa Group, Peter Matlare, the Deputy CEO of Absa Group, and Charles Muchene, the Board Chairman of Absa Bank Kenya PLC.
On it’s debut, Absa Bank Kenya traded 126,800 shares to close at Kshs 13.25.