Barclays Plans to Hire More South African Bankers to Service Africa’s Ultra-Wealthy

• British lender Barclays is looking to profit from Africa's uber-rich with plans to expand across the continent
• Africa boasts approximately R37 trillion in private wealth, which is expected to increase by 38% over the next 10 years
• About half of Africa's ultra-rich hail from South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya and Barclays plans to focus its efforts in these areas

LONDON - British multinational universal bank Barclays is planning to hire more South African bankers as it expands its private banking services in Africa. The British bank is looking to tap into Africa's R37 trillion high-net-worth market.

Barclays Private Bank CEO Jean-Christophe Gerard said that the group hired nine bankers from Credit Suisse based in Dubai, London and Zurich following a deal to handle clients referred to by the Swiss investment bank.

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BusinessLIVE reported that Africa's R37 trillion of private wealth is expected to grow by 38% in the next 10 years. Gerard said in an interview that Barclays is rapidly expanding across the south, west and east of Africa. Gerard added that the franchise would continue the expansion through organic development and the relationship with Credit Suisse.

Gerard said that most of the bank's focus would be in South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya, where almost half of Africa's uber-rich are. Barclays has approximately 15 bankers in South Africa but is looking to hire more, fin24 reported.

Gerard said:

“Entrepreneurs like to invest in entrepreneurs and therefore many are keen to participate in the Barclays direct-assets program for instance.”

South Africans react to Barclays' expansion plans

South Africans took to social media to share their views on Barclays' plans to target Africa's 1%.

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Here are some comments:

S'celo Mahlangu said:

"Re-colonisation of Africa. African Bank should expand to the UK."

Stephen Kotze commented:

"Super rich or super corrupt? "

Israel Mabona added:

"This is investment, a country's economy needs foreign investors to grow....China already owns a big chunk of the economy, with everything made in China."

R47.3 Billion in unclaimed retirement funds, scammers make people wary of claiming their funds

Pension funds are looking to pay out the R47.3 billion of unclaimed retirement funds in South Africa but warn people of scammers who might use the billions to prey on South Africans.

The Actuarial Society of South Africa (ASSA) warned that people might use the fact that there are unclaimed pension funds to run scams and rob South Africans of their savings.

Business Insider reported that returning payments to policyholders or their beneficiaries is difficult because they must provide verification information to the tracing agents employed by pension funds.

Source: Briefly News