Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)- one of Africa’s major financial services providers, Barclays Africa Group Ltd is applying for commercial and equities trading licenses in Nigeria, according to a Bloomberg report on Friday.

The report quoted Maria Ramos chief executive officer (CEO) of the Johannesburg-based lender as saying “We really want to follow our corporate clients into Nigeria; we want to bank our global and local clients in Nigeria. It’s an important, large and vibrant economy.”

The lender has a presence in 12 African countries including Kenya, where it has now applied for an insurance license.

According to the report, when the South African bank bought Barclays Plc’s operations in eight (8) African nations in 2013 for 18.3 billion rand ($1.52 billion) in stock, Egypt and Zimbabwe were excluded because of political turmoil and potential regulatory delays.

Ramos disclosed that while Barclays Africa now wants to buy those units, Egypt will be a very tough negotiation with Plc because the pricing has changed. “We will have to pay a very competitive price,” she added.

Barclays Africa is rolling out corporate and investment banking services across the continent while using its parent’s franchises to also boost consumer lending outside of South Africa.

The CEO of Barclays Africa says the lender wants its operations outside of South Africa, which account for 19.5 percent of earnings, to contribute 20 percent to 25 percent of earnings by next year.

While the lender is targeting a return on equity of 18 percent, with a current figure of 16.7 percent “it may be a stretch to get there,” she said.