How Barclays’ big play re-energized its Africa private wealth business

Bidding $2.5 billion for the bulk of Credit Suisse’s sub-Saharan Africa ultra-high net-worth private bank book 18 months ago has been a ‘game changer’ for Barclays in the region, the UK bank’s Africa market head Amol Prabhu tells Euromoney.

In November 2021, Amol Prabhu and Rahim Daya, senior bankers at Barclays, got wind of the fact that Credit Suisse was keen to offload a sizeable chunk of its Africa private banking business.

The Swiss lender, now owned by UBS, was once again draining the bitter cup, having slogged its way through a year that saw it clobbered by the Archegos and Greensill scandals, and that culminated with it swallowing a SFr1.57 billion ($1.75 billion) full-year loss.

Thanks for your interest in Euromoney!
To unlock this article: