British bank Barclays Plc and its African subsidiary, South Africa’s Absa Group Ltd, are set to combine their African units . The two companies operate in 12 countries and have over 14 million customers.

“This is expected to involve the combination of Barclays interests in Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and the Indian Ocean with Absa, with Barclays Bank Plc remaining as the majority shareholder of the combined African operations,” Absa said in a statement.

The listings of Barclays’ subsidiaries in Kenya, on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, and in Botswana, on the Botswana Stock Exchange will be maintained.

Barclays bought 54 percent of Absa in 2005 for $4.5 billion as part of a strategy to expand its presence in emerging markets.

Maria Ramos, chief executive of Absa Group and Barclays Africa, said the move is the next logical step in delivering Barclay’s ‘One Africa’ strategy, which it announced last year.

“We have already consolidated the regional offices for Absa Africa and Barclays Africa, as well as introduced a global product strategy for banking across the continent. This proposed combination of the businesses will mirror the managerial and operational structure we have already put in place,” said Ramos.

The proposed combination would not be expected to be completed until 2013.

“We are tremendously excited by the opportunities for growth in Africa. We are wholeheartedly committed to our businesses across Africa and this proposed combination will help us to leverage the significant potential of these businesses. It will provide a platform for further growth that we firmly believe will be to the benefit of our colleagues, our customers and clients, our shareholders and the communities in which we operate.” said Ramos.

Barclays’ pretax profit from Africa rose 13 percent to $1.4 billion in 2011 with the unit contributing 15 percent of the bank’s pretax profit.