Barclays Africa: Nigerian equities licence sought

BARCLAYS Africa Group, which is expanding on the continent after buying most of its parent’s operations in Africa, has applied for an equities trading licence in Nigeria in addition to a commercial licence. “We really want to follow our corporate clients into Nigeria,” Maria Ramos, the chief executive of the lender, said last week. “We want to bank our global and local clients in Nigeria. It’s an important, large and vibrant economy.” Barclays Africa has a presence in 12 African countries including Kenya, where it has now applied for an insurance licence. Parent Barclays still owns operations in Egypt and Zimbabwe. When the South African bank bought the UK company’s operations in eight African nations in 2013 for R18.3 billion in stock, Egypt and Zimbabwe were left out of the deal because of political turmoil and potential regulatory delays. Its share price fell 0.22 percent to R183 on Friday. – Bloomberg