Barclays set to close Kenya office

Barclays Africa is set to close its regional offices in Kenya at the end of this month. It has emerged from a court case filed by employees declared redundant by the bank that the bank’s offices in Kenya will be closed on 31^st March, 2016.

In the case, sacked Barclays Kenya employees have sued the bank for discrimination in redundancy packages and redeployment, as it plans to exit the country. The employees have also sued parent company Barclays Africa seeking to stop the lender from closing its operations in Kenya.

The staff members, who are represented by Mumo and Kanjama Advocates, said Barclays Kenya and its majority shareholder Barclays Africa have sacked Kenyans at the regional office and paid them less than retrenched workers.

“The respondents neither consulted nor discussed with the petitioners their legitimate expectations in relation to any redundancy,” they said in an affidavit. “They merely indicated that the bank will close down its Barclays Africa Regional Office in Kenya on March 31, 2016.”

The closure comes even as Barclays Bank Kenya maintains a brave face that it would not be exiting the Kenyan market.

The former employees have accused Barclays of not disclosing full details of the restructuring programme prior to the announcement in February that it intends to exit the local market.

“Respondents have failed and/or declined to engage or give proper notice to the petitioners of the impending restructuring in the company or only selectively done so,” they said in documents filed at the Labour relations court.

They want the impending exit of Barclays from the Kenyan market stopped; their argument is that the bank may not meet obligations to them once it closes operations.

[crp]