Absa Bank Kenya Plc
Absa Bank Kenya Plc, formerly Barclays Bank Kenya Limited, is a commercial bank in Kenya and a subsidiary of South Africa-based Absa Group Limited. It is licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya, the central bank and national banking regulator.
Location
The headquarters and main branch of the bank are located at Absa Westend Building, off Waiyaki Way, in Nairobi, Kenya's capital and largest city. The geographic coordinates of the bank's headquarters are:01°15'32.0"S, 36°47'04.0"E.Overview
As of December 2019, the bank is a large financial services institution in Kenya, with an asset base in excess of KSh:374.109 billion, with shareholders' equity of KSh:44.079 billion.As of March 2014, 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.
History
The bank's history traces from 1916 when the National Bank of South Africa 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. 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 Nairobi Stock Exchange in 1986 through a successful IPO. These shares trade under the symbol: BARC.
Before 2013, The bank is a subsidiary of Barclays Bank Plc., an International financial services conglomerate, whose shares of stock are listed on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol: BARC and on the New York Stock Exchange 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 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 JSE.
Shareholding
, the major shareholders in the stock of the bank were as illustrated in the table below:| Rank | Name of Owner | Percentage Ownership |
| 1 | Absa Group Limited | 68.50 |
| 2 | Standard Chartered Nominees Non-Resident A/C KE8723 | 1.11 |
| 3 | Standard Chartered Nominees Resident A/C KE11401 | 0.86 |
| 4 | Kenya Commercial Bank Nominees Limited A/C 915B | 0.77 |
| 5 | Standard Chartered Nominees Resident A/C KE11450 | 0.70 |
| 6 | Kenya Commercial Bank Nominees Limited A/C 915A | 0.63 |
| 7 | Standard Chartered Nominees Limited Non-Resident | 0.53 |
| 8 | Standard Chartered Nominees A/C 9230 | 0.44 |
| 9 | CFC Stanbic Nominees Limited A/C NR1873738 | 0.42 |
| 10 | Jubilee Insurance Company Limited | 0.37 |
| 11 | Others | 25.67 |
| Total | 100.00 |