Johannesburg - Barclays Africa used its AGM in Johannesburg on Tuesday to condemn xenophobic and anti-religious attacks in the key markets of South Africa, Kenya and Nigeria.
“We condemn the attacks on other humans in the strongest possible terms,” Barclays Africa chair Wendy Lucas Bull told shareholders.
She was referring to the recent spate of xenophobic attacks to grip South Africa, the Easter weekend attacks at Garissa College in Kenya by Al-Shabaab that left 147 people dead, and violence waged by Boko Haram in Nigeria, where Barclays Africa is awaiting its licence approval.
Barclays Africa unveiled their One Africa strategy in 2011 and, according to Lucas Bull, they have now completed the first year of a three-year strategy to deliver return on equity of 20- to 25-percent earnings growth. The SA division Absa delivered 18 percent returns.
The bank aims to be in the top three of its five biggest markets, which are currently South Africa, Ghana, Botswana, Zambia and Kenya.
ANA