For you to understand how baffled I was, I need to describe Shakawe. It is some ten kilometres south of the Namibian border, west of the Okavango River. There is nothing conventional about the place, it is really deep in the bush, but it seems to be some sort of administrative centre for that very remote corner squeezed between Namibia and the Okavango swamps. Within a fifty km radius are found some of the biggest populations of elephant and buffalo in southern Africa. But there is a substantial human population which I estimate must run into the tens of thousands all the way from Mohembo right on the border, further south along the Okavango right up to Maun which is some 300 km away. Being that far away from Maun and with such a substantial population, there is a clear need for banking services. Still, I did not expect in my wildest imagination that conditions up there in that wild corner merit the investment in a branch, never mind the cost of running it.
Once back in the metropolis of Windhoek, I contacted my banking sources and learned some amazing things. They were as astonished as I was to find out there is a small Barclays branch in Shakawe but they did tell me that, according to their information, Barclays is on a major southern African drive since it acquired South Africa's largest bank, Absa, in July 2005.
Last year when Bank Windhoek became wholly-owned Namibian, I remember being told that there was an offer or at least discussions on the possibility of Barclays taking over Bank Windhoek. This did not lead to anything and the shareholders in Capricorn Investment Holdings, the Bank Windhoek parent, instead opted to and were allowed to buy out the Absa shareholding in Bank Windhoek.
I then got a third major surprise in less than a week when one of my contacts asked me if I did not know that Barclays is far advanced with their planning to open a Barclays Bank in Namibia, independent of Absa in South Africa, and that the strategy will basically follow the same roll-out plan as in Botswana.
During my Botswana trip I drove past the Barclays branch in Ghanzi, also only a frontier town, but with a bit more grid than Shakawe. This branch was noticeably more imposing, bigger and permanent than the little converted prefab building in Shakawe but it is still only comparable to an insignificant spot like Mariental in Namibia. So from this I deduce that if Barclays is so serious about its colonisation drive that it sees a banking future in Ghanzi and Shakawe, then there must be two dozen such places in rural Namibia where they can make small branches work.
At this point, I do not know how our local banking scene will change when a big bully moves in but going by the local banks' financial results, there certainly is room for a big, well-run player. And if my South African sources are correct, then Barclays will be moving into Namibia in an aggressive, structured and goal-driven manner in the not too distant future. I am sure that will upset the local scene no end.
Given the size of Barclays, one must assume that they will do their homework into the minutest of detail and will only make their move once the entire plan has been finalised. With at least one local bank seeing a banking future in Botswana and with Barclays a growing factor in Botswana, I assumed it was only a matter of time before Barclays figured out for itself that if profits are to be made in Botswana, then surely the promises in Namibia must be that much bigger.
And when Bank Windhoek declined the Barclays offer for it to establish a local foothold, then the wheels must have started turning.
Something that I could not figure out though is the City Savings and Investment Bank history. It came in here, flying under political camouflage, then taken over and managed by a Malaysian group, but it still did not make it. This I can understand because it tried to be a Swapo bank and eventually it ended up with massive defaults from a score of senior government people and high ranking party shouters. For Barclays to avoid that is easy but for Barclays to penetrate our desert mentality may eventually prove not that easy.