The group mainly runs back office functions for its Africa operations out of its Dubai base.

"We're excited about the growth opportunity in Africa where we have operations in 10 countries and want to be closer to the business there. So we're moving our back office operations back to South Africa," a spokesperson for the group told BusinessLIVE from London.

He said the Dubai operation employed about 120 people who had been given the option of either relocating or resigning.

The group apparently hopes to begin operating out of Johannesburg by January 1 next year. It relocated its African headquarters to Dubai from Johannesburg in 2006.

Barclays owns a majority stake in South Africa's biggest retail bank, Absa, which operates in 12 African states. The two groups decided recently to combine their African operations under what they call their "One Bank in Africa" strategy.

Announcing recently that Absa and Barclays had agreed to implement a full geographical and global product structure for Africa, Barclays chief executive, Bob Diamond, said that with effect from 1 July 2011, the head offices of Absa Africa and Barclays Africa would be operationally combined with a new regional office being established in Johannesburg in order to deliver the strategy of "One Bank in Africa".

"Together with our majority shareholder, Barclays, we have been exploring ways to leverage the significant potential of their combined African businesses with the view to providing our customers and clients with a more holistic service on the continent," Absa said at the time.

It added: "The focus now will be on the actions, including securing the requisite regulatory approvals, to establish the new regional office. The intention is to better align our businesses to meet the needs of our customers and clients on the continent. The new geographical and global product structure will provide a platform that will enable us to look for opportunities to serve our customers and clients better, with the full range of products offered across both Absa and Barclays.

"This is a crucial step towards realising the potential of the combined operations in Africa and delivering our 'One Bank in Africa' vision."