Barclays Kenya merges retail and business banking units

Barclays Kenya has merged its retail and business banking units, which is likely to result in job losses; the corporate unit remains untouched. This move comes weeks after the bank's parent company announced it would close its regional management office in Nairobi next month and shift all support role to its South Africa branch.

NAIROBI: Barclays Bank of Kenya has merged the retail and business banking departments in a move likely to push some top managers out of the bank. The corporate department remained untouched. The bank has appointed Zahid Mustafa as director of retail and business banking. He was until his appointment the director of retail banking. Insiders say Humphrey Muturi, who joined the bank from Standard Chartered, will now be reporting to Mustafa. In his new role, Zahid will oversee the growth of the retail and business banking units, which are the bank’s growth engines. “Barclays is confident these changes will play a big role in the development and execution of strategy,” the bank said. Barclays has also appointed Susan Situma as the Head of Enterprise Banking. Susan joins Barclays from Kenya Commercial Bank where she served as the Head of SME & Agribusiness. The move comes weeks after the bank’s parent company announced it will close its regional management office in Nairobi next month and shift all support role to its South Africa premises. This saw the redeployment of over 30 staff based in Nairobi but the bank said will not affect Barclays Bank Kenya employees.