International Retail and Commercial Banking (IRCB) provides Barclays international personal and corporate customers with banking services. It includes the Absa Group in South Africa in which Barclays acquired a majority stake on 27th July 2005.
IRCB provides a range of banking services, including current accounts, savings, investments, mortgages and loans to personal and corporate customers across Spain, Portugal, France, Italy, the Caribbean, Africa and the Middle East.
It works closely with other parts of the Group, including Barclaycard, UK Banking, Barclays Capital and Barclays Global Investors, to leverage synergies from product and service propositions.
Absa Group Limited is one of South Africa's largest financial services organisations serving personal, commercial and corporate customers predominantly in South Africa. Absa serves retail customers through a variety of distribution channels and offers a full range of banking services, including basic bank accounts, mortgages, instalment finance, credit cards, bancassurance products and wealth management services; for commercial and large corporate customers Absa offers customised business solutions. As at 31st December 2005, Barclays owned 56.6% of Absa Group Limited's ordinary shares and has voting control.
