Morocco’s Attijariwafa Bank Acquires Barclays’ Egypt Branch

Morocco’s Attijariwafa bank Group has officially taken over British Barclay’s Egypt branch, reports say.

Attijariwafa bank Group, Morocco’s leading bank group, won the transaction after beating several global bank groups, among which Emirati NBD headquartered in Dubai.

The transaction estimated at $400 million will enable the Moroccan financial institution to expand its already wide network to Egypt. Barclay’s Egypt branch operates 56 local branch offices in 18 cities and employs 1,500 staff.

The British bank decided to sell out its Egyptian branch in order to scale up gains for its shareholders and reduce costs.

Attijariwafa bank Group, present in several other African countries including Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, Niger, Senegal, Tunisia and Mali, announced early September a 7.9 percent rise in its first-half net profit to 2.49 billion Moroccan Dirhams ($260 million.)

It also announced an increase by 3.5 per cent of the net banking income, which has been established at 10.1 billion Dirhams as revenues and margins improved.

Attijariwafa bank has been crowned Africa’s 2016 leading bank.