Barclays Plc. awaits approval from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) for the establishment of a local subsidiary to handle back office activities for the bank’s African operations.

The bank has submitted a request for approval from the CBK for the subsidiary – to be known as Barclays Shared Services – which will deal with the opening of accounts, card services and loan approvals among other back-office services.

The formation of the subsidiary will constitute Barclays’ biggest investment in Kenya to date; and could see the bank boost the country’s employment position – the bank planning to hire up to 1,000 employees by mid-2013 according to Business Daily.

The plans to establish the unit have been confirmed by Barclays Bank of Kenya officials, who have also admitted that the bank is currently awaiting the go-ahead from the CBK.

“Yes, we have made applications for the hosting of the shared services in Nairobi and full details will come early next year,” Abdi Mohamed chief operating officer of Barclays Bank of Kenya told Business Day.

The back-office unit is expected to provide services to a number of Barclays’ operations across the African continent – although its Egyptian and South African subsidiaries will not come under the remit of the Nairobi-based centre.

The move to centralise back-office activities in Africa is part of Barclays’ wider attempts to streamline its operations across the continent, and will see Kenya take a central role in the organisation of the group.

However, while Kenya may benefit from the investment, and the creation of jobs, it has also been speculated that the streamlining efforts could lead to the loss of jobs in other African countries which will be served by the Nairobi base on its establishment.