The British banking group Barclays has confirmed today March 1st that it will exit African market.

“We will sell down our 62 percent stake in Barclays Africa Group Ltd over the next two to three years to a level that allows us to deconsolidate the unit,” the lender said in a statement.

Barclays added that selling its shares in the bank, which resulted from the merger between Absa Group and its other African subsidiaries (Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Uganda, Seychelles, Tanzania, Zambia), is the translation of its wish “to concentrate on its two main divisions that produce more than 10% return on equity, Barclays UK and Barclays Corporate and International”.

The British group, led since December 1, 2015, by Jes Staley, formerly at the American bank JPMorgan, holds 62.3% of Barclays Africa, most of the remaining shares is listed on the JSE. Given the value of the share of Barclays Africa, Barclays’ share is worth R71.9 billion (€4.1 billion).

Barclays Africa, whose share dropped 6.8% on February 29, on JSE, before recouping to trade down at 5.5%, announced it made a net profit of R14.3 billion ($900 million) in 2015 against R13.2 billion in 2014.

Barclays has been in Africa for over 100 years.

The British group also previously said its net losses in 2015 doubled to £394 million (€500 million) as a result of PPI mis-selling scandal in the U.K.