Barclays said to be looking to scale back Africa ops

Barclays is reportedly drawing up plans to sell part of its 62% stake in Barclays Africa Group, the entity that houses most of its African business.

According the Wall Street Journal, the move – which marks a significant turnaround for Barclays – is part of a plan by new chief executive Jes Staley to refocus the bank on a narrower range of profitable activities.

Barclays had built up its African banking network to make it one of the leading Western banks on the continent alongside Standard Chartered and Citigroup.

The WSJ said further details on the plan could emerge when the bank releases its 2015 results in March.

This is not the first time Barclays has been said to be mulling a retreat from its African businesses.

Back in December, the Financial Times reported that Staley was considering selling part or all of Barclays’ African operations as part of his strategic review.

The FT cited people familiar with the matter as saying that the former JPMorgan executive had raised questions about the strategic fit of the bank’s African operations with the rest of the business.

The FT said Staley was unlikely to pull out of the continent but could decide to sell its retail banking operations in much of Africa, including South Africa, Kenya, Mauritius, Botswana and Zambia.

At 1512 GMT, Barclays shares were down 2.5% to 187.03p.