Kenya

Entered market 

1916

The National Bank of South Africa first established a branch at Mombasa in 1916, and by the time it was acquired by Barclays Bank (Dominion, Colonial and Overseas) in 1925, there were three branches. The pace of expansion was initially quite slow, but by 1943, an East African Local Board was established to control Kenya, Tanganyika and Uganda. This was replaced by a new local head office, opened in Queensway, Nairobi in 1951. By 1968, the 100th Kenyan branch had been opened at Madera. The Bank also invested in its staff by opening a training school in Nairobi, with the first course starting in 1955. In 1961, the Insitute of Bankers opened an office in Nairobi, only the second outside the UK. A new training school was then opened in 1970 in conjunction with Limuru Lay Training Centre. 1978 saw the formation of Barclays Bank of Kenya, as well as the launch of the Barclays Trust Company of Kenya. In 1986, Barclays became the only commercial bank in Kenya to offer public ownership of shares, with 30% of shares sold. Three years later in 1989, Barclays Bank of Kenya was awarded the prestigious 'Excellence in Banking' silver award from the Kenyan government, recognizing the Bank's contributions not only to the economy, but also to social responsibility within the country. Another Barclays first occured when BEAM, a computer system, was introduced in 1992, the first time in Barclays Africa. In 2002, Adan Mohamed became the first Kenyan appointed to the post of managing director of BBK. At this time, Barclays was the largest bank in Kenya, with some 55 offices and 435,000 accounts. In 2005 the 'La Riba' Islamic Banking account was introduced, giving access to Shariah compliant products for Kenya's 8 million Muslims, and 2010 saw the introduction of personal and motor finance products based upon Murabaha principles. In 2006 Barclaycard Kenya introduced a new Barclays Premiership credit card. 2006 also saw the launch of Junior Eagle account, designed to inculcate the savings habit in children. By 2007 Barclays was the leading bank in Kenya with an asset base of KES118bn. In 2009 Barclays was named as Best Bank in Kenya for the second year running, and in 2013 as Best Emerging Markets Bank, by Global Finance Magazine. In 2013 it was announced that Barclays’ African businesses would be incorporated in a new business grouping, Barclays Africa Group Ltd (BAGL), of which Barclays owned 62.3%. In May 2016 Barclays announced plans for a progressive reduction of its shareholding in BAGL, to be completed within 3 years, as part of its long term strategy and in response to prevailing regulatory capital rules and the UK bank levy, initially to 50.1% of BAGL’s capital. In 2017 the holding was further reduced to 16.4%. Full separation was announced in 2018, with provision for Barclays’ branding to be used until 2020. Barclays' Investment Bank continues to operate in Kenya.

Traded as

National Bank of South Africa