FOOTNOTES
HILARY JOFFE: Homecoming a central theme of Barclays Africa and Old Mutual results for first half
‘The separation processes at the two groups are very different — yet there are some common threads and challenges’
Coming home was a key theme of the first-half financials from two of SA’s big financial-services groups in recent weeks. Barclays Africa’s first-half results were its first as a standalone group, freed from the control of former UK parent Barclays plc. Old Mutual’s were probably its last set of interims as a UK-based conglomerate, before the break-up that will see it bring its SA-based emerging markets business back home. The separation processes at the two groups are very different — yet there are some common threads and challenges, perhaps most notably the sheer complexity and scale of the exercises, including the regulatory complexities. One outcome is that by the end of it all, the idea of a controlling shareholder, or even of "significant" shareholders, will be the exception rather than the rule in SA’s banking sector. Already, no one shareholder will hold more than 15% of Barclays Africa and within a few years, Nedbank too will have a diverse shareholder base, after it is even...
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