Absa Group reports growth in earnings; makes progress in digital offerings |13 August 2018

Absa Group Limited, Barclays Bank Seychelles Limited’s parent company, has

reported an increase in earnings and income for the first half of 2018 and underscored its commitment to growth in Africa.

Absa Group, previously known as Barclays Africa Group, said headline earnings rose 3% to R8 billion (about US $608 million) in the first half of the year compared with the same period in 2017.

Income increased by 3% to R37 billion (about US $2.8 billion).

Absa Group chief executive Maria Ramos reiterated the group’s ambition to double its share of banking revenues in Africa to 12% and said Absa is making progress on its innovation journey and in becoming a digitally-led bank.

In Kenya, Absa’s local subsidiary (Barclays Bank Kenya) launched Timiza – an app-based personal loans platform – in March this year. Timiza’s customer base has grown to more than two million by July 25.

Absa launched ChatBanking on WhatsApp banking and Samsung Pay as new propositions for its South Africa retail business this year. Uptake particularly in WhatsApp banking has exceeded expectation with more than 10,000 customers registering for ChatBanking on WhatsApp within the first 20 days of launching in July.

“Barclays Bank Seychelles, as part of Absa Group Limited, also strives to continually remain at the forefront of banking innovation by simplifying the lives of our customers and meeting their banking needs in a quick, safe, and efficient manner,” said Barclays Seychelles’ managing director, Johan Van Schalkwyk.

“Our customers can anticipate significant development in the digital arena in the future as our parent company rapidly explores promising new technology-based capabilities.

“In Seychelles, we have already been promoting our new generation cash accepting ATMs which allow instantly credited deposits to our customers’ bank accounts and in the last month, we have rolled out our ‘Tap Tap, Bank Bank’ campaign promoting our mobile banking application – the only one of its kind in Seychelles.

“We are also the only bank in Seychelles with the capability to open transactional banking accounts on a tablet.”

“We ultimately aim to create 24/7 banking convenience for all our customers.”

Reporting on its separation from the international Barclays PLC group, Absa said the programme is on track and within budget. As part of the separation, the group will rename its Barclays subsidiaries before mid-2020, as agreed with the international Barclays PLC group, subject to regulatory approvals.

Barclays continues to be an important stakeholder as it continues to own 14.9% of Absa Group.