Accra, June 20, GNA - Mr. Gary Hoffman, Group Vice Chairman of Barclays PLC, on Tuesday reaffirmed the Bank's commitment to support micro-finance and micro banking to grow the country's financial sector. He said to achieve this aim, Barclays would double its branches and the operations of the Automatic Teller Machines (ATM) in the country to encourage more Ghanaians to have access to banking facilities. Mr Hoffman made the statement in Accra, when he visited the West African AIDS Foundation (WAAF), a non-governmental organisation, to interact with some HIV/AIDS patients and access the operations of WAAF, which had, over the years been supported by the Bank.

He said Barclays was not only committed to provide their clients with better banking services and products, but its social responsibility, especially to Africa, remained key to its management. Mr Hoffman said to demonstrate its social responsibility, Barclays had since 2002 supported WAAF with over 50,000 dollars to sensitise the general public on HIV/AIDS and provide anti-retroviral drugs to AIDS patients on subsidy.

Mr Hoffman, who arrived in Accra last Sunday from the United Kingdom on a working visit, earlier met with the Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama and called at the Bank of Ghana. Barclays PLC is a major financial service provider engaged in retail and commercial banking, credit cards, investment banking, wealth and investment management services based in the UK. 20 June 07