By Modupe Gbadeyanka
A top official of a leading financial services entity in Africa, Barclays Africa Group, has disclosed that the firm plans to join the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) later next month.
Head of Markets for Barclays Africa Group, Mr Garth Klintworth, informed Reuters on the sidelines of a conference in Lagos on Thursday that plans are already on the way to make this happen in July.
According to him, a subsidiary of Barclays Africa, Absa Nigeria, has acquired a securities licence in the country as part of a wider plan to increase its presence in West Africa’s biggest economy.
Barclays Africa, which handled the sale of 9mobile, formerly Etisalat Nigeria, the fourth largest telecoms firm in the country, is exploring opportunities in three other African countries in a move to create access for foreign investors looking to tap into markets on the continent.
“We are investigating what opportunities there are in Ivory Coast, Morocco and possibly Angola,” he told Reuters.
The NSE is the third largest stock exchange in Africa and has in the last few years said it was reviewing applications from leading global investment banks to join its trading floor to increase foreign investment in one of the world’s least tapped emerging markets.
“We have acquired a securities licence, stock broking licence and we have already employed people to bring those licences to effect,” Mr Klintworth said further.
According to him, Absa Nigeria will start to trade on the Nigerian stock market from July.
He disclosed that Barclays Africa has not seen foreign investors pull out of Nigeria due to rising interest rates in United States or effects of contagion in Italy, but noted that investors were only rotating within emerging markets to tap into higher yields.
Recently, shareholders of Barclays Africa Group Ltd trading on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) as BGA gave approval for the entity’s name to be changed to Absa Group Limited in July.
Barclays Africa is changing its name back to South African brand Absa after it split from former parent Barclays following the sell-down by Barclays Plc of its majority shareholding in Barclays Africa Group to a minority position in 2017.
As part of the separation agreement, Barclays Africa Group will cease using the Barclays brand in Africa in 2020.
Adedapo Adesanya