Barclays says there are prospects for business in Seychelles |06 December 2004

Mr Hewitt was the guest of honour at Barclays Bank Seychelles' annual end-of-year cocktail hosted for its corporate clients and business partners in the country at the Wharf hotel on Wednesday evening. Also present were Barclays Bank (Sey) managing director Mr Frank Hoareau and other senior managers. 
 
Mr Hewitt is based in Johannesburg in South Africa and is responsible for the management of Barclays in Sub-Saharan Africa and in the Indian Ocean region.
On his first visit to Seychelles, he said he was thrilled to see the great job that the only Seychellois leading a bank on the island was doing and was delighted with the sound platform that has been built here.

"I'm excited with our prospects here and I think that Mr Hoareau and his predecessor, Mr Paul Freer, had carried on and accelerated the process and we are gearing ourselves for great things in Seychelles," he said.

But more, he said, could be done to improve business with the bank's corporate customers and mass market customers. He announced the company's plan to invest in modernising the bank's premises and in providing new technology solutions to make sure that its customers get the right products.

Happy to learn that 50% of the population banks with Barclays, Mr Hewitt however said there was a need for the bank to re-adjust its volume of banking process to move things faster, to cater for the high numbers of mass market customers who queue at the bank at the end of the month. He said this could be enhanced by providing more space at the Independence Avenue branch for sales and customer services and work faster to cater for ordinary customers' needs, and by improving its relationship management treatment for the bank's good quality customers.

Speaking about Barclays' initiative to start an offshore banking service here as from next year, Mr Hewitt said the unit will be based at the Independence Avenue. The offshore business, he said, presents a colossal opportunity for both Barclays and Seychelles as a whole. The company has recruited the assistance of the Barclays offshore manager from Mauritius to assist its team in Seychelles in the setting up of the service, but Mr Hewitt has guaranteed that they do have the experience as Barclays has offshore operations in other parts of the world.

Barclays' success, he said, depended on its four 'C's strategy, which gives priority to its colleagues (bank's staff), customers, company and community.

"Our colleagues need to be in good shape and well equipped to serve our customers, and without our customers there is no company and if our business is doing well and making profits, then we can in turn do great things for the community," Mr Hewitt said.

Mr Hoareau said the visits this year of the Chairman of Barclays Group Sir Peter Middleton and that of Mr Hewitt were testimony of the support the company here continuously enjoyed from Barclays Plc.

Barclays is the eighth biggest bank in the world and one of the oldest, at 313 years old.       
Mr Hewitt left Seychelles on Thursday after a brief tour of the Vallée de Mai on Praslin.