Absa on its way to Namibia

SOUTH African bank Absa has appointed its managing director of Namibian operations, and more clarity on the bank’s long-awaited entry into Namibia is expected by the middle of next month.

‘We are coming. I am busy packing up my furniture now. We will be there next week,’ said Marius Alberts, the newly appointed managing director of Absa in Namibia, yesterday.
Alberts is expected to arrive in the country on Monday.
Absa Group Limited is one of South Africa’s largest financial services organisations and one of the top four banks in that country. Now Absa plans to enter the Namibian market.
Already in late November 2008 the bank placed advertisements for new positions in local newspapers through local employment agencies Jobs Unlimited and Elite Employment Consultancy.
Positions advertised included team leaders, secretaries and executive personal assistants, call centre agents, customer service clerks, sales consultants, support officers and managers, tellers, branch administrators and managers as well as treasury clerks.
Although none of the Jobs Unlimited applicants was successful, some people have been hired by the bank already.
How many positions have been filled and who got the jobs is unclear, as Absa refuses to elaborate on the issue.
All that Maxwell Pirikisi, head of Absa Africa corporate affairs, group communication and public relations, was prepared to say was: ‘We are reviewing our entry strategy for Namibia and we will update the market in due course. We remain committed to all our staff and other stakeholders in Namibia, which is still an important part of our future African expansion strategy. We have got staff in Namibia already.’
Alberts reiterated this statement, adding that the South African bank has been in discussions with the local regulator and should be in a position to be more transparent with the local market as from the middle of February.
The regulator, the Bank of Namibia, said this week that it has issued a provisional banking licence to ABSA, which is valid until the end of March 2009.
‘Should the Bank of Namibia be satisfied that ABSA meets all requirements by the end of March 2009, then only a permanent banking licence can be issued to the applicant,’ the central bank said.
Speculation that Absa would not go through with its planned entry into Namibia has been fuelled by the recent global economic crisis. ‘This year is going to feel awful compared to 2008, particularly in the first half,’ said Absa Capital research head Jeff Gable in a Business Day article published on Thursday.
‘We think the (SA) economy is currently contracting, and for 2009 as a whole will struggle to grow by even one per cent. That means weak confidence, job losses, and little opportunity to feel good even if inflation and interest rates both head lower,’ the economics site quoted him as saying.
The Bank of Namibia first issued the Absa Group with a provisional banking licence in June last year.
Absa would be the fifth commercial bank in Namibia.
The existing four are Bank Windhoek, First National Bank, Standard Bank Namibia and Nedbank.