Picture: BLOOMBERG/CHRIS RATCLIFFE
BARCLAYS Africa Group said it now planned to expand its insurance business in Ghana after formally entering Kenya’s life insurance market.
The group expects Barclays Life Assurance Kenya to be a base to expand to East African countries such as Tanzania and Uganda, where it has banking operations.
"For us the key market was to first expand to Kenya and secondly to shift the attention to Ghana. That’s the next priority," Willie Lategan, the CEO for wealth, management and insurance at Barclays Africa, said.
Barclays Life Assurance Kenya is 66.6% owned by Barclays Africa Group and the remainder by Kenyan shareholders.
The insurance expansion comes after Old Mutual invested $253m to acquire a 60.7% stake in Kenyan insurance business UAP.
Barclays Africa Group wants its rest-of-Africa operations, which include banking and wealth, investment management and insurance, to contribute between 20% and 25% of group revenue in 2016. The insurance expansion is part of that plan. These operations currently contribute 19% of group revenue, with the balance from SA.
Barclays Africa Group’s 2014 full-year earnings showed it generated R1.1bn in operating income before tax from life and short-term insurance business in SA.
The wealth and investment management operations in SA posted R668m in operating profit before tax. About R83m in operating income before tax was generated from the rest of Africa.
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