Absa to Open Dubai Office as Gulf Investments in Africa Boom
A unit of South Africa’s third-largest bank by assets plans to open a representative office in Dubai next year to benefit from growing trade and investment between the Middle East and Africa.
“We’re setting up a Dubai office in the first quarter of 2026,” Yasmin Masithela, chief executive officer of Absa Group Ltd.’s corporate- and investment-banking unit, said in an interview in Johannesburg. “We’re just waiting for regulatory approval.”
The office will allow the lender to serve its clients on the continent seeking to do business in gulf nations as well as Middle East-based businesses wanting to access African markets.
Absa chose Dubai because of its concentration of clients seeking to invest in African infrastructure, Masithela said.
“You want to be closest to the clients that are driving the businesses that are aligned to your strategy, and infrastructure development has always been one of our strategic objectives,” she said.
Gulf countries have invested more than $100 billion in Africa since 2014, according to the World Economic Forum. Over that period, imports and exports between United Arab Emirates and sub-Saharan Africa increased by more than 30%, and the value of trade between Saudi Arabia and the region 12 times, according to the WEF.
In January, the UAE signed a pact with Kenya to boost trade and promote investments and Saudi Arabian auto distributor Jameel Motors plans to enter the South African market later this year.
Absa will join rivals Investec, Standard Bank Group, Rand Merchant Bank and Nedbank Group with offices in Dubai.
The new office will add to its international business portfolio, which includes so-called corridors in the UK and US and a non-banking unit that was opened in China in 2024.
Absa CIB expects earnings to continue to grow this year.
Earnings growth will probably be in the “middle single-digit level,” Masithela said, adding that some of its sub-units, including corporate business, may deliver growth above 10%.
