On Saturday, 13 Barclays Africa countries took part in the One Harmony Choir Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The One Harmony Choir Festival is a highlight on the Barclays Africa calendar. It sees employees from across the continent coming together to perform in a way that inspires all in attendance. This spirit was epitomised by Egypt’s performance. The choir was unable to practice prior to the event because of the conflict currently taking place in their region, but decided that they still wanted to participate (but not to compete).

After a day of inspiring songs, melodious voices and inspiring performances, it was South Africa’s choir, the Rainbow Sonatas, which were judged to be the winners of the One Harmony Festival. Each member of the choir won a trophy and R2 000.

They were closely followed by Zambia’s Mosi-oa-Tunya who walked away with a medal and R1 000 per member. Ghana’s choir, Harmonious Eagles were voted Most Entertaining Choir by SMS voting and won themselves medals and R500 per member.

The judges agreed that the competition was very tight this year, but after much consideration, decided that South Africa’s technical expertise made them worthy winners.

As every year, Barclays Bank Egypt launched the 2013 Summer Internship Programme (SIP). This programme provides university students the opportunity to experience working in a bank and gain vital practical skills, which will stand them in good stead in their future working lives and will give them an edge in any future banking career.

After the huge success of last year’s programme, Barclays Bank Egypt was eager to continue and expand on the SIP, and this year’s programme includes 153 university students, who were given priority in joining the programme before their graduation to assist them in their future careers.

The Summer Internship Programme is a reflection of the bank’s commitment to support Egyptian society through developing the skills of the younger generations and giving them the capabilities they need to compete in the modern job market.

“This programme provides students with a unique opportunity to learn important career-related skills and gain vital experience by getting acquainted with the workflow in a bank and the values that Barclays Bank Egypt works to uphold. It also assists students in setting a future path and goals for themselves by familiarising them with the different departments in the bank,” says Ayman Mahana, Barclays Bank Egypt Human Resources Director.

The two-month programme started in July 2013, as students were given the opportunity to apply the through the bank’s website and gain experience in numerous departments such as human resources, consumer banking, commercial operations, collections, consumer operations, corporate real estate services, corporate banking, it and risk. Upon completion of the programme, all trainees will be invited to a farewell event to meet members of the Country Executive Committee and will receive their programme certificates.

Choirs from 12 African countries will compete for the top honours in the 9th annual One Harmony Choir Festival at the Johannesburg Civic Theatre on Saturday. The event will be hosted by renowned musician and producer Zwai Bala and will feature performances from the likes of Dr Victor.

This year marks a significant step forward for the festival as choirs from each of the countries in which Barclays Africa operates will be represented for the first time. Choirs from Botswana, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of last year’s winner, the Choral group Mosi-oa-Tunya from Barclays Bank Zambia.

Bobby Malabie, Group Executive responsible for Marketing, Communications, Citizenship and Public Affairs at Barclays Africa Group, says: “The choir festival is a highlight in our social calendar, particularly as we accelerate our One Africa strategy with the aim of becoming the ‘Go-To’ Bank in Africa.” Malabie is a member of the judging panel that includes well-known musicians Concord Nkabinde, Malawian Wambali, Victor Masondo and Alta van As.

“This competition recognises the commitment, sacrifice and hard work of all the choir members who practiced relentlessly, outside of normal working hours. The festival is one way of expressing our unique African identity, where our colleagues bring to the fore their creative interpretation of what it is to be part of a pan-African business that is rich in diversity and cultures,” adds Malabie.

Doors open at the Johannesburg Civic Theatre at 14:30 on Saturday. The festival starts at 15:00

The 17th annual Highway Africa Conference, one of Africa’s largest gatherings of journalists, media practitioners and media owners under one roof, gets underway in Grahamstown on Sunday.

Highway Africa has traditionally been at the centre of debates on journalism, media and technology and this year’s instalment will be no different. The theme of this year’s two-day event is: Speaking truth to power? Media, Politics and Accountability.

As part of the Barclays Africa Group’s (formerly Absa Group) commitment to investing in Citizenship, the pan-Africa financial services group will host a Business Journalism Master Class at the conference. The journalism programme provides mid-career business journalists with a high-level refresher course to report on complex financial matters. As an official conference partner, Barclays Africa will also host the Africa Dinner on Sunday where Collins Chabane, Minister in the Presidency responsible for Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation, will be the main speaker.

Kennedy Bungane, Chief Executive of Barclays Africa and Head of Africa Strategy, says: “We need to take an active role in the development of Africa’s media and this investment assists in empowering journalists with critical skills to be even better at their craft. We believe the media is best placed to tell the African story but the growth and development of an effective media across Africa is central to making sure this happens.”

Bungane adds: “Our 11-year partnership with Rhodes University through Highway Africa underscores our commitment to the economic and social development of the continent. With a presence in 13 African countries, our association with this event adds impetus to our goal of becoming the ‘Go-To’ bank in Africa.”

Absa Life Botswana (Pty) Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Absa Financial Services Limited (AFS), has received approval from the relevant authorities in South Africa and Botswana to change its brand name to Barclays Life Botswana (Pty) Limited.

Lanz Zulu, Managing Executive Absa Financial Services Africa Holdings, says: “We are pleased about the approval to trade under the Barclays name and brand in Botswana. The adoption of the Barclays name and brand by Absa Life Botswana provides the basis on which to fulfil the ambition to make Barclays the ‘Go-To’ banking and financial services brand in Botswana. We will ensure that Absa’s insurance capability and success in South Africa can be replicated in Botswana and the rest of Africa under the Barclays name.

“Barclays Bank has operated in Botswana for more than 80 years and is a well-known, trusted and respected brand. This is an exciting journey for us. It makes business sense for us to take advantage of our business footprint, which can help us grow and be recognised in all markets for our customers banking and insurance needs. Barclays Life Botswana will offer insurance solutions such as credit life, funeral cover, individual and group life, investment and education products amongst others.”

The prospects for the insurance business is bullish, with Absa Life Botswana forecast to produce gross premium income of P150 million (R177,55 million) in 2013 and expected to maintain strong growth in the medium term. Absa Life Botswana commenced operations in 2010 and has since grown to become the third largest life insurer in Botswana with a market share of about 5%. Currently Absa Life Botswana has more than 130 000 policyholders, with more than 2500 new policies being added each month.

This is aligned to the Barclays Africa Group goal of accessing markets with robust growth and seizing opportunities on the continent. Zulu said that under the Barclays brand, Barclays Life Botswana would be even better positioned to offer additional risk and investment products, with new endowment and education products due to be launched in the latter part of 2013.

Financial services group Barclays Africa is supporting a global awareness campaign aimed at raising funds towards the building of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital. The hospital is a unique project in that the capital funding is being raised entirely from donors.

Tomorrow is the Nelson Mandela Sport and Culture Day in aid of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust. The day is an extension of the Human Spirit as soccer and rugby, for the first time, share a stage on the same day in honour of a great man.

As the official team sponsor of the soccer and rugby national teams – the Springboks and Bafana Bafana – Absa is proud to be part of this historic day.

In keeping with the spirit of the Nelson Mandela Sport and Culture day, people that want to contribute towards the hospital’s building costs are encouraged to do so at Absa and Barclays branches in South Africa, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and the United Kingdom. Donations can also be made online or through EFT payments to the following account:

• Account name: Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust,
• Absa account number: 9285303224.
• Branch Code: 632005.

All administration fees have been waived so that the Nelson Mandela Children’s Trust is paid the full donated amount.

Today we officially embark on the exciting journey of becoming the ‘Go-To’ bank in Africa.

The combination of the majority of the Barclays Africa businesses with Absa was the next logical step in delivering our “One Africa” strategy, which Barclays PLC announced last year. We have already consolidated the regional offices for Absa Africa and Barclays Africa, as well as introduced a global product strategy for banking across the continent. The combination of the businesses will mirror the managerial and operational structure we have already put in place.

We are tremendously excited by the opportunities for growth in Africa. We are wholeheartedly committed to our businesses across Africa and this combination will help us to leverage the significant potential of these businesses. It will provide a platform for further growth that we firmly believe will be to the benefit of our colleagues, our customers and clients, our shareholders and the communities in which we operate.

This exciting and transformational deal creates a high-quality franchise in Africa with a leading network of more than 1,300 outlets and 10,400 ATMs across ten countries.

This is a momentous achievement for Barclays in Africa. The deal marks an extraordinary milestone that sets us firmly on course to become the ‘Go-To’ bank on the continent. It means that we can accelerate Africa’s true global potential by supporting the development of capital markets and providing a greater range of financial services on the continent.

We have created one of the leading banking groups in Africa, strengthening our geographic footprint and increasing our growth opportunities on the continent. By capitalising on our heritage and seizing the opportunity in some of the fastest growing economies in the world, we are well positioned to win in Africa.

In the quest to improve financial inclusion on the continent, Absa and Barclays have become actively involved in the sixth African Microfinance Conference. Representatives from more than 25 African countries will attend the conference from 12 -15 August 2013 at the Durban International Convention Centre.

Access to formal financial services by low income earners and the poor remains a challenge for more than 80% of the people living in Africa. Many factors contribute to the challenge of access, including cost to clients when interacting with formal financial institutions. At this conference, representatives will discuss these challenges and search for solutions that will benefit the end user.

As main sponsors, Absa and Barclays will optimise this platform to showcase their innovative products and services that are aimed at this sector. The conference also provides a forum to identify the opportunities and challenges within each country.

Craig Bond, Chief Executive Retail and Business Banking will represent Absa and Barclays at the opening panel discussion. He will be joined by senior government representatives and other dignitaries.

Gideon Serfontein, Head: Barclays Africa Citizenship will deliver a key note address at the Gala dinner, outlining Barclays Africa Groups’ citizenship efforts on the continent.

Barclays and Absa’s Inclusive Banking services and products will be on display at the conference.

Through this involvement, they aim to help promote financial inclusion by providing easy-to-understand information speedily and transparently, addressing the needs of customers on the continent.

Using the insights and identifying the challenges emerging through events like these, the Barclays Africa Group aims to move forward with its goal of becoming the “Go-To” bank on the African continent.

Absa Group reports 8% increase in HEPS; sets out investment in revenue growth.

Absa Group today reported an 8% increase in headline earnings to R4 663 million from R4 313 million and improved its return on average equity (RoE) to 14,0% from 13,7%. The financial services group declared a special ordinary dividend of 708 cents per share and increased its interim ordinary dividend by 11% to 350 cents per share.

Key drivers of the results

• Retail and Business Banking’s headline earnings increased 48%, due to lower credit impairments and continued cost containment.
• Financial Services’ headline earnings increased 5%.
• Maintained strong liquidity position, growing deposits due to customers 7% or by R32 billion to R490 billion.

Maria Ramos, Group Chief Executive of Absa and CEO of Barclays Africa, said: “We made a number of undertakings to the market for 2013 that we have delivered on. Specifically, we have announced a momentous milestone having concluded our transformational Barclays Africa acquisition, while also returning surplus capital to shareholders through a special dividend. In addition, we said we would focus on efficiency. Our well-contained cost base in the first half of 2013 demonstrates our sustainable efficiency drive.”

Good progress

We have made good progress in improving our credit quality after last year’s elevated impairments. On a like-for-like basis, our first half charge for 2013 dropped 24% or by R1 billion and did so while we improved our non-performing loan cover noticeably to 39%.

Although our credit loss ratio has increased in our unsecured retail books, the rise was off a low base and is in line with our expectations. We have maintained our loan momentum in selective areas, having restored our loan production in the second half of last year. Crucially, we did not increase our overall credit risk appetite to improve our loan growth.

We also committed to improving our top-line growth this year, which came in at a modest 3% and remains challenging in a less supportive macro environment than we expected. We have made solid headway from a revenue growth perspective in: life insurance and investments; corporate and investment banking; merchant income in retail banking; and electronic banking for business clients.

Clear strategy

It is important to note that in order to improve our revenue growth, we will be increasing our investment spend, while balancing this with cost reduction initiatives elsewhere.

In particular, Retail and Business Banking is implementing a clear strategy to improve its growth over the next three years. We have regained traction on the lending front and slowed customer attrition by launching our Value Bundles and Rewards programme in the past year.

However, our transactional banking franchise is taking longer to regain momentum than expected. In response, we are improving our products, pricing and processes, to give customers a fundamentally better experience.

We will work closely with the Barclays teams in the UK and the US to accelerate our product and customer service innovation. Increasing our alignment with Barclays has allowed us to launch innovations such as our banking app, Pingit and tap-‘n-go cards, at a low cost.

Refresh branch network

We are also refreshing and repositioning our physical and digital channels. We have re-engineered our core customer processes and launched the first of our new branches in Hyde Park in Johannesburg last month. We will roll out 35 of these in South Africa and 25 in the rest of Africa by year-end. We plan to invest R1,2 billion by 2015 to refresh our branch network and will also strengthen our ATM network in South Africa, which is the largest in the country.

Says Ramos: “While the operating environment remains tough and revenue growth is still challenging, cost containment remains on track and credit quality has improved. The completed Barclays Africa deal will provide access to markets with robust growth and positions us to seize opportunities in Africa. We remain on course to build momentum by investing in revenue growth.”

Challenging macro-economic environment

Looking ahead, we are operating in a challenging macro-economic environment, particularly in South Africa, where we expect moderate GDP growth of about 2% this year and 3% next year. However, we see stronger growth in the rest of Africa, with over 5% GDP growth in Sub-Saharan Africa this year.

“Africa is important to the group, as one in three of Barclays employees works in Africa and we are the group’s largest region after the UK and US, contributing 11% of Barclays first half 2013 profit before tax. We are well positioned to win in Africa, by leveraging this strong platform and Barclays global resources. I have every confidence that we have the right strategy and the right team to become Africa’s ‘Go-To’ bank,” concludes Ramos.

Financial services groups Barclays and Absa and the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust today announced the launch of a global fundraising awareness campaign to raise funds towards the construction of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital.

The hospital is a unique project in that capital funding is being raised entirely from donors, while operational expenditure will be provided by the South African government, through the National Department of Health.

Members of the public that would like to contribute towards the hospital’s building costs can do so at Absa and Barclays branches in South Africa, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and the United Kingdom. Absa and Barclays have also waived all administration fees so that the Trust is paid the full donated amount.

Once completed, the hospital will help to address a very real need in Southern Africa as the region suffers from a shortage of dedicated paediatric facilities, with only four such facilities on the continent – two in Cairo, one in Nairobi and one in Cape Town. Admissions to the hospital will be open to all children from the SADC region.

Viable solutions

The Hospital will be located in Johannesburg, South Africa. Johannesburg is an economic and transportation hub in the SADC region, and is centrally located to meet its mandate of serving the region’s population. The project is entering the final development phase, with commissioning and opening of the Hospital expected for October 2015.

“It is a shared imperative of Absa and Barclays to create viable solutions to help address social challenges. Acting as a conduit to raise funds for a cause as noble as Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust, is central to our commitment to making Citizenship real for all of our stakeholders,” says Bobbie Malabie, Absa Group and Barclays Africa Executive responsible for Marketing, Communications, Citizenship and Public Affairs.

Malabie adds: “For us, Citizenship means understanding the needs of our stakeholders and making decisions – in the short – and long-term that will positively impact our clients and customers, as well as the communities in which we operate. This is a fundamental part of becoming the ‘Go-To’ bank in Africa.”

Progress on the establishment of the Hospital is on track, with building planned to commence in the third quarter of this year. Completion date is set for 2015.

Living memorial

“A highly skilled technical task team is working hard to meet these deadlines,” says Sibongile Mkhabela, CEO of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust.

While the world’s economic climate has hampered fundraising efforts, the hospital trust has already raised approximately R250 million of the R1 billion target required to build and equip the hospital, as well as train medical professionals to work in it.

The hospital will be a living memorial to Nelson Mandela. It will also be a centre of excellence and a specialist referral hospital catering for children who need long-term care.

“Millions of these children suffer from life-threatening illnesses and have little or no chance of receiving the specialised care they need. The hospital will be unique in one more way – no child will be turned away due to an inability to pay,” says Mkhabela.

Huge gap

“The Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital Trust is extremely proud to be a vehicle for raising and mobilising funds to plan and build the hospital. At the appropriate time we will appoint an operating company, called the Nelson Mandela Children’s Hospital, to oversee the running of the hospital,” says Mkhabela.

One in five South African children has long-term serious health conditions. This hospital will fill a huge gap in the country’s health-care programme. It will not compete with, but will complement, other hospitals and their work in paediatric work.