Barclays Bank (Kenya)

Barclays Bank of Kenya

Type	Public
Traded as	KN:
Industry	Banking
Founded	1916
Headquarters	Nairobi, Kenya
Key people	Francis Okomo-Okello Chairman Jeremy Awori Managing Director
Products	Loans, credit cards, savings, investments, mortgages
Revenue	: Aftertax:US$89.7 million (KES:7.1 billion) (2013)
Total assets	US$2.329 billion (KES:200.975 billion) (March 2014)
Owner	Barclays Africa Group (68.5%)
Number of employees	3,000+ (2014)
Website	Homepage

Barclays Bank of Kenya Limited, also known as Barclays Bank of Kenya, is a commercial bank in Kenya. It is licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya, the Central Bank and national banking regulator.

The bank is a large financial institution in Kenya, with an estimated asset base in excess of US$2.329 billion (KES:200.975 billion), as of March 2014. At that time, Barclays Bank of Kenya was the fifth-largest commercial bank in Kenya, by assets, behind KCB Group, Equity Group Holdings Limited, Cooperative Bank and Standard Chartered Kenya. The institution serves the banking needs of large and small business customers as well as individuals.

The bank's history traces from 1916 when the National Bank of South Africa (now First National Bank) opened a branch at Mombasa. In 1925, National Bank of South Africa was merged with the Anglo-Egyptian Bank and the Colonial Bank in 1925 to form Barclays Bank (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 in 1986 through a successful IPO. 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 under the symbol: BARC and on the (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. The stock of Barclays Africa Group, which owns 68.5% of Barclays Bank of Kenya, is listed on the .