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[2007-04-03] Absa, Barclays Dar Bid to Go Slow
The process to merge Barclays Bank and ABSA will not automatically affect the operations of the two banks in Tanzania, an official from Tanzania's Fair Competition Tribunal (FCT) has said.
Mr. Godfrey Enock Mkocha, the tribunal's director general said last week in Dar es Salaam, "So far there is no formal application on the merging of the banks at the local level that has been submitted to the tribunal...we are waiting to see an application."
Both, Barclays Bank and ABSA which are Africa's leading banks have operations in Tanzania. Mkocha said mergers or share transfers outside Tanzania of firms with operations in the country are not recognised by the law.
FCT is the body that is mandated, among other things, to sanction or bless mergers or share transfers that have a bearing on the Tanzanian economy.
"It is because of the law that it is difficult to recognise the merger of the two banks at local level," he said.
A fortnight ago, Business Week reported about plans to merge the two banks.
Subsequently, a senior media consultant for the Absa Group Limited Ms. Phillippa-Jane Vermoter, has said concluding the merger transaction will take time owing to such complexities.
Speaking from South Africa, Ms Jane Vermoter told Business Week, "The overall objective continues to be strategically attractive and remains the intention of both Barclays and Absa."
Absa Group Ltd, which is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), is the controlling company of a major financial services group in South Africa.
Mr. Steve Booysen, the Chief Executive Officer of Absa Group was quoted as having said that Absa and Barclays intend to combine other sub-Saharan African Barclays operations with Absa.
Barclays International Plc operates in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Seychelles, Tanzania; and Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe with 55% controlling stake in the National Bank of Commerce Ltd (NBC), Angola and Mozambique.
Copyright © 2007
Source: Copyright © 2007 East African Business Week
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