Absa eyes big move to one of South Africa’s biggest competitors

• Absa plans to convert its representative office in Nigeria into a merchant bank to diversify its earnings.
• The move aims to reduce Absa's dependence on South Africa, Kenya, and Ghana, which accounted for over 80% of its profit in the six months to June.
• The expansion will bring Absa into competition with larger rivals Standard Bank and FirstRand, as well as Nigerian banks Access and Zenith.