• Friday, March 29, 2024
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Bob Diamond steps down as chair of African banking group Atlas

Bob Diamond steps down as chair of African banking group Atlas

Former Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond stepped down as chairman of Atlas Mara as the pan-African banking group he founded said that it was reviewing the future of its operations.

Atlas Mara said on Wednesday that Mr Diamond will remain a non-executive director at the group, which he floated in 2013 with ambitious plans to create an African banking giant. The Dubai-based investment vehicle has since suffered an 85 per cent share price collapse.

“My belief in our ambition — to create a premier sub-Saharan African financial institution to better serve continental and global customers — remains as strong as the day we founded the company,” said Mr Diamond.

But on Wednesday Atlas Mara signalled a retreat from some markets as it announced it had retained Citi to review its operations.

The owner of banking concerns from Botswana to Nigeria added that it had received “indications of interest for certain banking assets” and that it will sell off businesses that do not show signs of becoming leaders in their markets.

As well as stakes in lenders based in Botswana and Rwanda, the group owns 49 per cent of Nigeria’s Union Bank.

Nigeria’s banking sector has been a torrid investment for foreign buyers since the oil price collapse of 2014. Last year Carlyle, the US private equity group, put its stake in the country’s Diamond Bank up for sale after the after the lender’s shares fell more than 90 per cent following its 2014 purchase.

“Nigeria remains a flagship market for Atlas Mara and is central to the company’s overall strategy,” Atlas Mara said on Wednesday.

The group also said it would buy a 35 per cent stake in South Africa’s GroCapital from its key shareholder, Fairfax Africa, in order to access banking services in the continent’s most financially sophisticated market.

Mr Diamond will be replaced as chairman by Michael Wilkerson, chief executive of Fairfax Africa, which is Atlas Mara’s largest shareholder.

The former Barclays boss had only assumed the chair of Atlas Mara’s board on an “interim basis”, Atlas Mara said on Wednesday. Mr Diamond became interim chairman in October 2016.

The shake-up at comes after the group took a year to find a chief executive. South African banker John Staley took that role last April, filling a gap that had been left empty since John Vitalo quit in February 2017 amid growing investor concerns over faltering performance and share price weakness. The group was also forced to cut costs and jobs following currency shocks in Africa in 2015.

Shares in Atlas Mara rose 4 per cent in early London trading to $1.72.