Barclays board will be seeking a nod for appointment of KPMG Kenya as its external auditors for the second year in a row, signalling the two regional audit units operate independent of each other.
BBK’s parent firm Barclays Africa Group announced early this month that it had dropped KPMG South Africa as auditors.
The South Africa firm has been embroiled in controversy over its work for the notorious Gupta family‚ which has faced a barrage of allegations linked to State graft.
Shareholders of Barclays Bank of Kenya (BBK) #ticker:BBK will tomorrow be asked to approve the tier-one lender’s choice of external auditor weeks after the South African parent pulled the plug on the Johannesburg-based KPMG.
Barclays board will be seeking a nod for appointment of KPMG Kenya as its external auditors for the second year in a row, signalling the two regional audit units operate independent of each other.
“Notice is hereby given that the thirty ninth annual general meeting of the shareholders of the Barclays Bank of Kenya Ltd will be held... to transact the following business,” said the lender in a notice.
“…To approve the appointment of KPMG Kenya as auditors and to authorise the board to fix the remuneration of the auditors.”
BBK’s parent firm Barclays Africa Group announced early this month that it had dropped KPMG South Africa as auditors.
The South Africa firm has been embroiled in controversy over its work for the notorious Gupta family‚ which has faced a barrage of allegations linked to State graft.
“Barclays Africa Group Limited (BAGL) today notified its shareholders that its board of directors is withdrawing its recommendation that auditing firm‚ KPMG Inc. be reappointed for 2018 at its upcoming AGM on 15 May,” the parent firm said early this month.
KPMG Kenya only last year took over the auditing of Barclays Bank of Kenya from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The latter had audited the bank for nearly two decades. The Big Four - Deloitte & Touche, PwC, Ernst & Young and KPMG – dominate the list of accounting firms auditing NSE-listed banks.
Shareholders at tomorrow’s AGM will also be asked to approve BBK’s name change to Absa Group Ltd, subject to regulatory approval.
This name change comes two years after UK-based Barclays Plc announced that it would be selling most of its 62 per cent stake in the Johannesburg-based Barclays Africa Group over two to three years.
A local firm has, however, gone to court seeking to block use of Absa Kenya, which it registered in 2005.
BBK recorded Sh6.93 billion after-tax profits for last year, representing a 6.4 per cent drop in year-on-year profitability that resulted from lower income.
