* Says businesses are "client driven" not "casinos"
* Africa is a "huge opportunity"; cools on U.S. retail deal
(Adds comments on North America, Africa opportunities)
LONDON, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Barclays Plc's new chief executive Bob Diamond hit back at political criticism in an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, saying terms such as "casino banking" misunderstand how the bank handles risk.
UK business secretary Vince Cable said last week Barclays' elevation of its investment banking supremo highlighted worries about the "combination of the casinos and traditional banking".
"These aren't casino businesses, these are real client-driven businesses," Diamond told the Sunday Telegraph.
"We are providing services to corporate clients, to fund managers, to retail clients through branch banking and high net-worth banking."
Diamond, credited with rebuilding Barclays' investment banking arm, said he would engage with a UK commission that is pondering whether the country's big lenders should be broken up.
"We have a very strong view that our business model fits exactly what is the right model for the UK," he told the newspaper. "But we have total respect for the process and the committee. We are going to work with them and engage."
Diamond also said he would work on fixing some aspects of Barclays' business that had underperformed, including commercial banking outside the UK, where activities would be more closely aligned with Barclays Capital.
He said he saw the banking market in sub-Saharan Africa as a "huge opportunity", but was cooler on the retail sector in North America, where the bank was said to have been on the lookout for deal.
"Both (outgoing CEO) John (Varley) and I would love to make an acquisition that made sense financially and accelerated our strategy in our wealth business," he told the paper.
"But the truth is everything we have seen in the last couple of years, the price has been crazy or the business is something that would not integrate well. The same is true in western Europe and our retail business -- we have to assume we are going to do it day by day, brick by brick, client by client." (Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by David Holmes)