The sale of part of Barclays’ stake in its South Africa-based Barclays Africa Group earlier this year has accelerated the pace of change many of its banks are facing in the region. These changes have been particularly sharply felt in Kenya, where the last two years have introduced challenging circumstances at the bank. At Barclays Bank Kenya, a team of four lawyers and two support staff, led by Waweru Mathenge, head of legal and secretarial services, has reconstructed itself since 2014, and nominators praised their response to a number of high-profile departures.

One senior private practice lawyer pointed to their ‘willingness to go above and beyond all reasonable expectations to ensure legal operations have continued as before’.

The Kenya-based team has also dealt with a number of regulatory changes facing the bank, the most recent of which has been the Banking (Amendment) Act 2016. The Act represents a big change in the Kenyan financial services market by introducing interest rate caps on loans and a floor on the interest payable on deposits. Mathenge and his team have been working closely with senior management and business teams to ensure compliance with the Act does not disrupt Barclays’ operations in the region.