Barclays Africa announced on Thursday that it is dropping KPMG as auditors.

KPMG has been embroiled in controversy over its work for the Gupta family‚ which has faced a barrage of allegations linked to state capture.

Below is the full statement released on Thursday by Barclays Africa:

Barclays Africa Group Limited (BAGL) today notified its shareholders that its board of directors is withdrawing its recommendation that auditing firm‚ KPMG Inc. (KPMG) be reappointed for 2018 at its upcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM) on 15 May.

Ordinary resolution 1 in the Notice of AGM which was issued at the end of March 2018 referred to the re-appointment of each of the external auditors of BAGL:

- Ordinary Resolution 1.1 relates to the re- appointment of Ernst & Young Inc. (EY) as external auditors and remains as proposed in the Notice of the AGM ; - Ordinary Resolution 1.2 which is withdrawn relates to the re-appointment of KPMG as external auditors.

In the initial Notice of AGM‚ the board proposed that KPMG be re-appointed as one of BAGL’s external auditors for the 2018 financial year‚ but that it would “continue to monitor developments” relating to KPMG. Subsequent to the release of our AGM Notice‚ the Board has carefully evaluated the on-going and more recent developments and decided that it is no longer able to support the reappointment of KPMG.

The appointment of KPMG as external auditors of BAGL will cease on completion of the statutory and regulatory audit and reporting matters relating to the 2017 financial year‚ which is expected to take effect by approximately 31 May 2018.

For the 2017 audit the BAGL Group Audit and Compliance Committee (Committee) secured additional support‚ enhanced quality processes and quality reviews from KPMG and KPMG International. The Committee and the Board were satisfied with the quality of the audit of the 2017 annual financial statements‚ which was conducted jointly with EY.

It is a current requirement of the South African Reserve Bank that in accordance with its policy‚ BAGL requires two external auditors‚ acting jointly. We will accordingly start a formal process to appoint a second firm of auditors. In the meantime EY will be the sole auditors of BAGL.

The South African Reserve Bank has been appraised regarding this development.