Barclays reveals second Absa branded branch in Arusha

Barclays Bank Tanzania Board Chairman, Simon Mponji (third left), cuts a ribbon to official launch the Absa Bank Tanzania  second Absa branded branch in Arusha on Tuesday. Looking on from left are BBT Director of Finance, Obedi Laiser, Head of Retail Banking, Oscar Mwamfwagasi and the banks Managing Director, Abdi Mohamed.

Barclays Bank Tanzania today revealed its second rebranded branch as it gets ready to change its name to Absa in the near future. The bank is preparing to change its name in line with its parent company’s decision to rebrand all its operations and will change from Barclays Bank Tanzania to Absa Bank Tanzania.

Last week the bank launched its first Absa-branded branch in Tanzania - its Mikocheni Branch. Today the bank revealed its second Absa-branded branch Tanzania, which is also the first in Arusha. This completely new branch located within the newly built Ngorongoro Tourism Center, showcases the warm, vibrant red color palette of the Absa brand, with the furniture and décor reflecting the warm hues of the brand’s wide color spectrum inspired by the African continent. This state of the art, paperless branch is equipped with internet banking facilities and newly branded ATMs, all carrying the Absa logo.

“As we get ready to enter a new era in the bank’s history, you can expect to see the energy and the vibrancy of the new Absa brand taking us to new levels. From our new branches, we will embrace our ambition of becoming an independent African bank, under a new brand: Absa. As an organisation, Absa believes in bringing your possibility to life. We are here to fulfil the ambitions of our customers and communities, and we look forward to continuing to build strong partnerships to make this a reality,” said Mr. Abdi Mohamed, Managing Director of Barclays Bank Tanzania.

Even though some branches will start to look like Absa, it will continue to operate and trade as Barclays Bank Tanzania until its name officially changes. The bank has several legal and regulatory milestones to achieve before the official name change date can be announced. The bank will announce this date in due course.

On his part, the Chairman of the Barclays Board of Directors, Mr Simon Mponji, said “Recognizing the significant size of the task ahead, and in preparation to change our name, we started introducing Absa’s warm, vibrant red colour palette on some of our assets, including bank branches and ATMs, to ensure we are fully ready by the time our legal name changes.

The name change in Tanzania is part of one of the largest rebranding projects in Africa and part of a broader, multi-country rebrand programme happening at Absa Group Limited-level, scheduled to be completed by mid-2020. The bank is well on track to complete the process ahead of this deadline.”

In closing, Mr Mohamed assured clients that “All customer services will continue as before throughout the name change process, and customers will not be required to do anything during this period. Barclays Bank Tanzania will not ask any customer for additional information during this period, and all bank records will remain the same before and after the transition.”