The marathon race for a seat in the board of directors of Barclays Bank of Botswana has begun in earnest, after the bank notified its shareholders that the next annual general meeting (AGM) will be held on June 26th.
Already, aspirants are jostling for election into the bank’s board of directors. Barclays Bank Botswana independent non-executive director Lawrence Maika has already offered himself for re-election. Maika joined the board in 2005 and he is the Managing Director of Nsenya (Pty) Ltd. He also manages an accounting firm. Another candidate, current Barclays Bank Botswana chairman of board of directors, Rizwan Desai, has also offered himself for re-election. He joined the board in 2002 and he was appointed board chairman in 2009. Desai is a partner in the law firm Collins Newman & Co. and director of a number of property development and investment companies.
The Barclays Bank Botswana board comprises of a non-executive chairman, five non-executive directors and two executive directors as well as the Managing Director and the Finance Director. During the last financial year, there were five non-executive directors on the board. One non-executive director, Mokgadi Nteta, and one executive director, Aupa Monyatsi, resigned from the board in November 2013.
The main objectives of the board are to ensure that Barclays Bank of Botswana complies with applicable laws and regulations as well as to discuss, agree and regularly review the bank’s business strategies so that they remain in line with those of Barclays Africa and, where necessary, recommend adjustments for the bank to keep up with local market considerations. The board is expected to monitor business performance and be responsible to shareholders for creating and delivering sustainable shareholder value through sound business management.
Reinette van der Merwe joined the board of Barclays Bank of Botswana in November 2013.The Barclays board approves the roles and responsibilities of the chairman and Managing Director. A close look into latest Barclays annual report shows that during 2013, the board held five meetings. The bank spent over P4 million on the directors remunerations. Barclays Bank Botswana chairman Desai pocketed P200 000, Maika P180 000, Alfred Dube P160 000 and Kenneth Molosi P170 000. The resigned non-executive director, Mokgadi Nteta, got paid P205 000. Oupa Monyatsi was the biggest winner with over P2 million.
The newly appointed Barclays MD, who started work last year November , as paid P174 109 and the bank’s Finance Director, Lipalesa Makepe, got P1 293 833, making a total payment of P4 392 315 as director remunerations. The remuneration was for their responsibilities in the different committees they sit in such as audit, human resources, remuneration and also executive committee.
