Bank of Kenya to trade as Absa Bank
Noel Wandera @NoelWandera5
The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has stopped the trading of Barclays Bank of Kenya (BBK) shares to facilitate the settlement of all outstanding obligations as the bank seeks to change its trading name and ticker code from Barclays Bank of Kenya Ltd to Absa Bank Kenya Plc and BBK to Absa, respectively.
“The temporary halt took place yesterday and is in line with clause 9.4.2 of the NSE Equities Trading Rules. All shareholders, investors and the general public are asked to take note,” a statement from NSE said.
Yesterday, BBK, through newspaper adverts, said it had officially started trading as Absa Bank Kenya PLC, after a successful transition that started in June 2018.
The board said the bank will start trading with effect from yesterday as Absa.
Barclays Life Assurance Kenya Ltd will also formally change its name to Absa Life Assurance Kenya Ltd with effect from yesterday.
“All contractual relationships and obligations that the bank has with its customers, partners and other stakeholders are not affected by this change of name,” it stated.
The statement from the board, said Absa will continue to operate as a bank licenced by the Central Bank of Kenya.
The re-branding started in June 2018, as part of its Africa Group strategy, after the London-based Barclays PLC divested from Barclays Africa as part of a separation arrangement.
The South African-based Absa Group owned a majority of stakes of BBKarclays Bank in Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Ghana, Mauritius, Mozambique and Seychelles.
“Barclays Africa Group Ltd has changed its name to Absa Group Ltd. What has changed is our parent company’s name.
We have until mid-2020 to re-brand Barclays banks in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia,” Absa Group had earlier said.
