By James Anyanzwa and Lillian Kiarie

Global Finance magazine has voted Barclays Bank Kenya as one of the ‘Best Emerging Markets Banks in Africa’ following an exclusive survey to be published in the May issue.

Other banks from the East African region that are named in the survey include Stanbic Bank (Uganda), International Commercial Bank (Djibouti), and NIB International Bank (Ethiopia), with the top prize going to Ecobank.

Global Finance editors – with input from industry analysts, corporate executives and banking consultants – selected the best emerging markets bank in 29 countries in the region.

Criteria for choosing the winners included growth in assets, profitability, strategic relationships, customer service, competitive pricing, and innovative products.

This is the 12th year that the magazine has selected top banking performers in emerging markets. The report covers best banks in Latin America, Central & Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.

“Each region and individual country presents unique challenges for banks and their customers, especially under the difficult conditions global financial markets continue to face,” Joseph Giarraputo, the publisher of Global Finance said in a statement yesterday.

“For this reason, customers must depend on excellence in the execution from their banking partners. These are the banks that are providing best-in-class solutions for these distinctive markets.”

Extensive network

BBK, which has operated for over 95 years in Kenya, has an extensive network of 117 branches and over 230 ATM’s countrywide.  Its financial muscles together with extensive local and international resources have placed the bank as a prime financial service provider.

Global Finance Magazine also ranked Barclays as the best bank in Kenya in the years 2008, 2009 and 2010. The bank, a local subsidiary of Barclays PLC, also scooped the Company of the Year Award for Human Resource Management in the Institute of Management Awards.

BBK recorded a pretax profit of Sh13.2 billion for the full year ended December 31, representing eight per cent growth, compared to the previous year’s Sh12 billion. The growth in profitability was occasioned by increase in interest income, which grew by 19 per cent to hit Sh21 billion.

Loans and advances went up 5.5 per cent to Sh104 billion while customer deposits rose from Sh115 billion to close at Sh138 billion

However, shareholders of the bank will receive a dividend of Sh1 for each share held, down from last year’s Sh1.50.