Absa rides wave from Bankorp probe leak
Shares in Barclays Africa Group closed unscathed on Friday after reports that the public protector was investigating the bank
Barclays Africa, or Absa, bought the struggling Bankorp, at one time the country's fourth-largest, in 1992 from Sanlam for R1.23-billion. The Reserve Bank had helped to keep the bank, which housed well-known brands such as Trust Bank, going since 1985 when a banking crisis was triggered by former president PW Botha's Rubicon speech. The speech put a damper on expectations of major political reforms, prompting foreign lenders not to roll over loans. In 1992, South Africa suffered three bank collapses. The central bank continued to provide assistance to Bankorp until 1995, when Absa or Barclays Africa assumed ownership. The amount in dispute was rooted in three Reserve Bank loans of R300-million, R700-million and R500-million to Bankorp. In 1995 Absa paid back the principal amount of R1.5-billion owed by Bankorp to the Reserve Bank. However, the preliminary report from the public protector's office, leaked to the Mail & Guardian, which reported on it on Friday, contends that the bank ...
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