Amol Prabhu, is the Head, Africa Market/ Chief Executive Officer, Barclays, South Africa. In this interview with Abolaji Adebayo, explains the opportunity presented by the growing tech in Nigeria to aid advanced banking business in the country
How do you rate the banking system in Nigeria and Africa, based on your experience?
First of all, we particularly focus on Anglophone-related countries. Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, South Africa, etc. I can only really speak as to the countries that we focus on and why we focus on those countries. Because Barclays is known in each of those countries extremely well, and there’s a very strong link, particularly to the UK, which we can explore and come on to.
But what I can say for each of those countries is that, generally from a banking system perspective, and generally from a local banking perspective, each of those countries has a strong set of local banks and a representative number of international banks.
Any challenge facing the banking system in Nigeria and Africa?
There are challenges everywhere. I mean, globally, not just in Nigeria, not just in Africa. But with the pace of technological development, Nigeria presents opportunities for businesses not only banking to thrive. From our perspective, it’s not a challenge, it’s also an opportunity.
How do we make sure that we are providing the best service that we can to our clients in Nigeria for their global needs? How do we make sure global clients are also seeing opportunities within Nigeria? And how do we marry the two? How do we make the business and the opportunities that we can provide our clients as impactful as ever? That’s how I think of the business. So, I see Nigeria as a huge opportunity for the Barclays franchise.
Nigeria seems to be a strategic priority market for Barclays. Can you elaborate on the reason for choosing Nigeria?
Nigeria is one of the biggest economies in Africa. Also, if you look in terms of the size of the population and culture of Nigeria, Nigeria is a country of entrepreneurs, it’s a country of go-getters. There’s a lot of positivity. I was in Nigeria last week, and we did a lot of work. We talked to a lot of clients who have significant business concerning Nigeria.
On a specific level, there is a huge connection between Nigerian families and it could be local Nigerians, it could be Lebanese or Indian families that are based in Nigeria, but there is a huge connection between those families. We’re one of the few banks that will provide a Nigerian family with a sterling mortgage but on our facts of your naira income.
What are the specific services and offerings you provide in Nigeria, particularly in the areas of private banking, investment, and corporate banking?
I have to be careful because I think for compliance reasons, I can speak generally on this. We look at three businesses: investment banking, private banking, and corporate banking. We provide Nigerian clients with global solutions and global clients with solutions in Nigeria.
That means that if you are a Nigerian corporation, you’re looking to raise money overseas, be it through an international bond, be it you want to list on a London Stock Exchange or New York, that you, let’s say, want to divest part of your business and you’re looking for a strategic buyer. All these things we can support and we can provide. Specifically concerning private banking. Again, as I mentioned, we have a lot of services that we provide across the board. It could be real estate, investments, or banking.
You seem to have a unique advantage in serving the Nigerian-UK corridor. Why?
Well, this is our core strategy. We believe we have a significant advantage. Why we have that advantage is because the UK is our home market. So, the reality is we have a phenomenal network across the UK. We can support clients with an extremely wide range of products and when I say clients, I’m not just talking about parents who are living in Nigeria, I’m also talking about their children who may be in various parts of the UK.
So, the simple reality is because the UK is Barclays home market, it is our ability to provide that extremely wide product proposition, but also extremely high levels of service to these Nigerian families.
How does Barclays plan to contribute to the economic development and growth of Nigeria considering its strategic priority in the country?
It does on several levels because we often discuss with our clients how they are developing and growing and supporting the development and growth of their businesses, particularly if they’re looking to raise funds overseas. Often, those funds come back to Nigeria to help grow and develop those businesses. On the corporate investment side, there is a strategy where a global client is coming into Nigeria or a big Nigerian corporate organisation is looking to raise money overseas and bring it back to Nigeria.
That helps the Nigerian economy. It helps expand businesses, it helps create jobs from a private family perspective. We have a philanthropy team as well. So, we often talk to families about philanthropy, what kind of philanthropy they do, and impact philanthropy. Some families are very keen on investing in education. Others are investing in other types of technology to help the economy to do something they are particularly passionate about and I think the biggest we provide clients, either families or investment corporate banking clients is because we are a global bank.
We can talk about a couple of things. We can talk about globally what is happening. So with a Nigerian family or a Nigerian company, we can explain to them and we can give them guidance and views on what other families globally, other corporates globally in their sector are doing and thinking. We can help share intel with them that I’m hoping will help them with their strategic personal decisions, and or strategic professional decisions. That’s the type of value that we can provide. I’ll give you one example.
There’s a cement manufacturer in Nigeria and we have a global head of cement that sits in London. Now, the chap has been sitting in London for the last 40 years and has been focused on the cement sector. We brought him down to Nigeria. He sat there and had a conversation with the board of this company. Just what cement companies are doing globally, what he sees in the market, and what his recommendations are for that particular company. It’s a very powerful conversation because few banks can provide that level of expertise, both from a sector perspective and from a global perspective.
What key messages or insights can you share regarding investment and focus in Nigeria?
The first message is that Nigeria is a key strategic market for Barclays. Secondly, we have a long history in Nigeria. We have focused on the country, frankly, for over 100 years. And we have clients that we have supported in Nigeria for decades. I think the other aspect we should, which is important, is we are absolutely open for business for Nigerian corporates and Nigerian families that are looking for global needs and absolutely for global clients that are looking into the continent. And I think the most important part for many clients is peace of mind.
How do you plan to engage with the community and social initiatives in Nigeria?
Though we don’t have an office in Nigeria yet, we often do what you have said through our clients, because we often advise our clients, particularly through our philanthropy team. We talk a lot about the different types of social initiatives, etc.
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