Absa Bank Kenya Plc, formerly Barclays Bank Kenya Limited, is a

commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make a profit. It can also refer to a bank or a division of a larger bank that deals with whol ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

and a subsidiary of South Africa-based

Absa Group Limited Absa Group Limited, commonly known and stylized simply as absa (formerly the Amalgamated Banks of South Africa (ABSA) until 2005 and Barclays Africa Group Limited until 2018), is a multinational banking and financial services conglomerate ba ...

. It is licensed by the

Central Bank of Kenya The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) () is the monetary authority of Kenya. Its head office is located in Nairobi. CBK was founded by in 1966 after the dissolution of East African Currency Board (EACB). Dr. Kamau Thugge, CBS is the current Governor a ...

, the

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...

and national banking regulator.

Location

The headquarters and main branch of the bank are located at Absa Westend Building, off Waiyaki Way, in

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

, Kenya's capital and largest city.

Overview

As of December 2019, the bank is a large financial services institution in Kenya, with an asset base in excess of KSh:374.109 billion (US$3.561 billion), with shareholders' equity of KSh:44.079 billion (US$419.654 million). As of March 2014, Barclays Bank of Kenya was the fifth-largest commercial bank in Kenya, by assets, behind

KCB Group KCB Group Limited, also known as the KCB Group, is a financial services Bank holding company, holding company based in the African Great Lakes region. The Group's headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya, with its subsidiaries being KCB Bank Kenya Limit ...

, Equity Group Holdings Limited,

Cooperative Bank Cooperative banking is retail and commercial banking organized on a cooperative basis. Cooperative banking institutions take deposits and lend money in most parts of the world. Cooperative banking, as discussed here, includes retail banking carr ...

and

Standard Chartered Kenya Standard Chartered Kenya, whose official name is Standard Chartered Bank Kenya Limited, but is sometimes referred to as Stanchart Kenya, is a commercial bank in Kenya. It is a subsidiary of the British multinational financial conglomerate headqua ...

History

The bank's history traces from 1916 when the National Bank of South Africa (now First National Bank) opened a branch. In 1925, National Bank of South Africa was merged with the

Anglo-Egyptian Bank The Anglo-Egyptian Bank was a British overseas bank established in 1864. History The founding banks were Agra and Masterman's Bank, La Compagnie Financière Maurice de Cattauï and the General Credit and Finance Co., and the bank incorporated ...

and the Colonial Bank in 1925 to form

Barclays Bank Barclays PLC (, occasionally ) is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services ...

(Dominion, Colonial and Overseas). This brought the Kenyan operations under Barclays Bank. The bank was licensed in its present form in 1953 and in 1978 it was incorporated locally as Barclays Bank of Kenya, a wholly owned subsidiary of Barclays Bank International. The bank listed its shares on the

Nairobi Stock Exchange The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) was established in 1954 as the Nairobi Stock Exchange, based in Nairobi the capital of Kenya. It was a voluntary association of stockbrokers in the European community registered under the Societies Act in ...

in 1986 through a successful

IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...

. These shares trade under the symbol: BARC. Before 2013, The bank is a subsidiary of Barclays Bank Plc. (through Barclays Africa), an International financial services conglomerate, whose shares of stock are listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

under the symbol: BARC and on the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

(NYSE) under the symbol: BCS. In 2013, Barclays Plc adopted the combined strategy to operate as “One Bank in Africa” with an aim of increasing efficiency and boosting returns from the African Units. This led to the merging of all Barclays Plc. businesses in Africa (other than Egypt and Zimbabwe units) through Absa Group Limited, leading to the formation of

Barclays Africa Group Absa Group Limited, commonly known and stylized simply as absa (formerly the Amalgamated Banks of South Africa (ABSA) until 2005 and Barclays Africa Group Limited until 2018), is a multinational banking and financial services conglomerate ba ...

. The stock of Barclays Africa Group, which owns 68.5% of Barclays Bank of Kenya, is listed on the JSE.

Shareholding

, the major shareholders in the stock of the bank were as illustrated in the table below:

Branch network

, the bank maintains a network of 85 branches and 208 ATMs in various locations across

Governance

The chairman of the ten-person

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

of Absa Bank Kenya is Charles Muchene, one of the non-executive directors. Jeremy Awori serves as the

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the bank.

Re-branding

Following the issuance of the requisite regulatory approvals, Barclays Bank of Kenya re-branded to Absa Bank Kenya, on 10 February 2020.

References

{{Absa, state=collapsed Companies based in Nairobi Banks of Kenya Companies listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange 1916 establishments in Kenya Banks established in 1916 Absa Group Limited