Barclays Bank Zambia Plc says it will complete its re-branding process to Absa Bank Zambia Plc by next month.

During a press briefing in Lusaka, Thursday, Barclays Bank Zambia acting managing director Harton Maliki announced that the transition was on course and would be completed by February 10, 2020.

He also thanked relevant stakeholders for their support during the unprecedented rebranding process, which finally concludes in a month’s time.

From June this year, the Barclays Bank brand will no longer exist in Zambia or any of the other markets in Africa where Barclays operated in line with an agreement with Barclays Plc.

This follows Barclays’ move to exit Africa in 2017, closing the British bank’s 100-year history on the African continent.

“As Absa Group Limited, we are actually proud…there will be a day when we will now be called Absa Bank Zambia Limited and we are proud to announce to you today that on the 10th of February, 2020, we will officially change our name and now be proudly called Absa Bank Zambia Plc and this is really the great milestone. So, all these things that we have been doing that we have highlighted to you, changing our branches, changing our technology, it all culminates into this big day, which is the 10th of February, 2020, when we become Absa Bank,” Maliki told journalists at the Southern Sun Hotel.

“We will be launching more branches, we are concluding the Cosmopolitan, Kafue branch; we are concluding Monze branch and these are branches that will be opened within the next few weeks. As we go into that day, we will be called Absa Bank. We are at an advanced stage as you are aware. Our Longacres and our Mutaba branches have been closed for a while as we are doing renovations and we are at an advanced stage with work on these branches.”

He further told journalists that no jobs were lost during the transition process and “none will be lost in future”.

“We did highlight to you that…no single colleague will lose their job as a result [of the transtition] and I am be happy to announce to you that we are on that course, and we are moving according to plan and that has not happened. So, the journey is moving very well and we are very excited about it,” said Maliki.