Absa Group Limited is one of the largest financial service chains in South Africa. It operates in various African countries and provides services of deposits, loans, credit cards, insurance, financial planning, and investment banking services.
Absa Group Limited: Bio
Absa Group Limited is a South African financial service company that provides credit cards, personal and business banking, corporate and investment banking, wealth and investment management, and bank assurance. Initially, it was known by the name Barclays Africa Group Limited.
In 2020, Absa Group Limited had the majority of the stock in 11 banks that were based in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
In addition to having worldwide headquarters in London and New York, the business also has representative offices in Nigeria and Namibia. The Absa Group Limited owns assets of more than 100 billion US Dollars.
Absa Group Limited: History
Absa Group was formed in 1991 by combining businesses such as United Bank in South Africa, Allied Bank in South Africa, Volkskas Bank Group, and Sage Group.
The Bancorp Group, which included Trust Bank, Senbank, and Bankfin was fully bought by Absa in the following year. This action was taken for expanding the asset base of Absa Group.
These banks which were working under their name were combined into a single brand in 1998. A year later Absa changed its name from Barclays Africa Group Limited to ABSA Group Limited and introduced a new corporate brand.
The UK-based Barclays Bank acquired a 56.4% share in Absa in May 2005 as part of its effort to penetrate untapped overseas markets with its global product and international retail and commercial banking businesses.
The deal was the largest direct foreign investment ever made in South Africa and its largest investment outside the UK.
In 2013, the financial group reverted its name from ABSA Group Limited to Barclays Africa Group Limited.
In 2018, 14.9% of Absa Group Limited was held by Barclays Bank Plc. Barclays Africa stated in March 2018 that the group’s name would change to Absa Group Limited as of May 2018.
In 2018, the business underwent a rebranding process that included a new logo and taglines. The same year, Absa opened an international office in London, and in 2019, opened its second international office in New York.
By the year 2020, Absa Group Limited had the majority of the stock in 11 banks based in different places. In 2022, Sello Moloko was named the chairman of the group, and Arrie Rautenbach was the company’s fourth CEO in three years.
Barclays Plc sold the last of its 200-purchased Absa shares in August 2022, for 7.4 billion pounds.
Absa Group Limited: Major Shareholders
Absa Group Limited is considered one of the largest financial service groups in Africa. It has more than 35,000 employees at its different subsidiaries in 15 different countries.
As we mentioned earlier, Barclays Plc sold its last share in the Absa Group in 2022. Since the beginning of the group, Barclays Plc had a very significant role in its stock.
After the withdrawal of Barclays Plc, the major shareholder of Absa Group Limited is the Public Investment Corporation of South Africa. It has about 6.53% of the share in the group.
Other major shareholders of Absa Group Limited include Deutsche Securities (4.8%), Old Mutual Asset Managers of South Africa (3.56%), The US and UK-based BlackRock, Inc (3.48%), FIL Limited (3.18%), Prudential Investment (3.18%), Citigroup Global Markets (3.01%), The Vanguard Group (3%), Schroders Plc (2.92), and others with 51.98% of share.
According to Absa Group Limited, South Africa has the major geographical hold in the financial service group with 40.47%. The United Kingdom follows South Africa with a hold of 27.27%.
The United States and Canada have a geographical hold of 17.64% whereas other countries have the remaining 14.62%.
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Absa Group Limited: Subsidiaries
- Absa Bank Limited
- Absa Financial Services Limited
- Absa Bank Ghana
- Absa Bank Mauritius
- Absa Bank Uganda
- Absa Bank Zambia
- Absa Bank Tanzania
- Absa Bank Seychelles
- Absa Bank Mozambique
- Absa Bank Kenya
- Absa bank Botswana
- National Bank of Commerce Limited
Absa Group Limited: Legal Issues
In 2014, South African courts issued a series of allegations against the clients who had taken out loans from the bank and who the bank had accused of defaulting on their loans. This was followed by the finding against the mortgage lending business of Absa Group.
Absa provided unsigned blank loan agreements as proof instead of the loan agreements, alleging that they had been destroyed in a fire in 2009.
Due to the bank’s inability to provide an electronic copy of the documents, Absa dismissed the case it had filed in the North Gauteng High Court. The one who has been accused claims that the bank was attempting to intimidate them by threatening legal costs and expenses.
They also claimed that the bank increased the loan’s interest rate and assessed extra costs that weren’t previously agreed to.
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