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# Absa sets a two-year Africa overhaul as South Africa supplies nearly 72% of its earnings
- URL: https://www.theglobalbanker.com/absa-sets-a-two-year-africa-overhaul-as-south-africa-supplies-nearly-72-of-its-earnings/
- Published: 2026-11-10T13:13:22.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-10T13:13:22.000Z
- Description: Absa plans to finish reshaping its Africa operations outside South Africa within two years, from a Nigerian merchant bank to a Tanzanian merger, and is aiming for 85% of its Kenyan unit by 2028, after its home market supplied nearly 72% of first-half headline earnings.
- Author: TGB Editorial Team
- Tags: Banking News, Africa, #newsroom, #needs-photo

Absa plans to complete a restructuring of its African operations within the next two years, targeting markets with stronger growth potential to reduce its dependence on South African profits. Charles Russon, the group's chief executive for Africa Regions, outlined the plans in an interview with Bloomberg published on 10 November 2026.

The programme runs from a merchant bank in Nigeria and a new office in Angola to a merger in Tanzania, while the group also wants a larger stake in its Kenyan bank by 2028\. “We’re all a little bit impatient and we want to move,” Russon said in an interview.

## LICENCES IN NIGERIA AND ANGOLA

Nigeria is central to the plans. Absa has begun converting its representative office there into a merchant bank, which would allow it to accept corporate deposits and expand into lending, project finance and investment banking. It is betting that reforms under President Bola Tinubu will create more chances to finance large Nigerian companies. The expansion would pit it against established banks including Standard Bank, FirstRand, Access Bank and Zenith Bank.

In Angola, Absa is preparing to open a representative office. Russon said the licensing process was under way and that the office could begin operating within 12 to 18 months. He spoke on the sidelines of the African Financial Industry Summit in Luanda last week. “It’s evident that this is a market that feels like it is turning, is becoming more open, more transparent and I think in due course, much more investable,” Russon said.

## EARNINGS STILL MADE AT HOME

South African headline earnings rose 17% to 9.19 billion rand in the six months through June, lifting the home market to 72% of group earnings, while Africa Regions fell 10% to 3.62 billion rand. Lower policy rates in key markets squeezed the region's lending margin from 7.82% to 7.35%, while [South Africa](https://www.theglobalbanker.com/market-south-africa/)'s held steady at 3.78%.

Angola would be a return. Absa sold its 50% stake in Banco Comercial Angolano in 2009 after failing to obtain outright control of the operation. The Africa regions balance sheet is just 19% of total customer deposits and equity but accounts for almost 60% of the group's interest rate sensitivity.

## CONSOLIDATION IN EAST AFRICA

In Tanzania, Absa is pursuing plans to merge Absa Bank Tanzania and National Bank of Commerce (NBC), two banks it controls, a combination that would create a larger, better-capitalised lender with more capacity to finance infrastructure projects. In Uganda, the transfer of customer accounts from Standard Chartered's retail banking and wealth management businesses, acquired under an agreement signed in 2025, is scheduled for mid-November 2026.

In Kenya, the bank plans to raise its holding in the local unit to 85% by 2028\. A tender offer of $238.7 million in June, for an additional 16.5% stake, lifted it by only 3.5 percentage points to 72%. Absa retains a “strategic intent” to increase that holding over the next couple of years, Russon said. “If you believe in the market, then clearly you want to be able to benefit from everything the franchise does as opposed to holding 100% of the risk-weighted assets and only getting 70% of the profits,” he added.

## THE TGB VIEW

[Absa Group](https://www.theglobalbanker.com/rankings-africa/) is third in the TGB Bank Rankings for Sub-Saharan Africa, ranked by total assets, with a return on equity of 12.7% for the year to December 2025, against 17.5% at Standard Bank Group and 18.3% at FirstRand (year to June 2025). The expansion starts from a narrow base: South Africa supplied nearly 72% of headline earnings in the first half of 2026, and earnings outside it fell 10%, in a home banking sector with assets of 9.13 trillion rand in July 2026 that the SARB classifies as highly concentrated. The next steps to watch are the Uganda account transfer scheduled for mid-November 2026, the Angola office, which could open within 12 to 18 months, and the planned 85% Kenya stake by 2028.

*Related: [Absa Group reports 8% rise in H1 2026 headline earnings to R12.8 billion and lifts ROE to 15%](https://www.theglobalbanker.com/absa-group-h1-2026-headline-earnings-up-8-percent-r12-8-billion-roe-15/)*