Barclays' South African unit, Barclays Africa Group (formerly Absa Group), is planning to combine its wealth, asset management, stock broking and investment administration businesses.

The integration combines Absa Investments, Absa Wealth Management and Alternative Asset Management.

The new unit will have 225 billion rand ($22.1 billion) of assets under management, the firm said in a statement.

Barclays raised its stake in South African bank Absa to 62.3 per cent earlier this year in a deal worth 18.3 million rand. Absa officially changed its name to Barclays Africa Group on 2 August 2013.

“We believe that this will boost business prospects across Africa in our quest to becoming the continent’s go-to’ bank. This opportunity enables us to co-ordinate bespoke investment and insurance solutions while building and maintaining long-term partnerships with our clients based on trusted advice. Being part of the wealth, investment management and insurance cluster enables us to be closer to our major strength, our distribution channels,” said Nomkhita Nqweni, chief executive of wealth and investment management.