Standard Chartered’s digital-first leap of faith begins paying off; bank bounces back to No.3 position Standard Charted Bank Uganda is a bank of many firsts. It is Uganda’s oldest bank- it was founded on 1st August 1912; 109 years ago. It was also the first Ugandan bank to introduce ATMs, the first VISA Electron debit card and toll-free phone banking amongst many other innovations. It is therefore not surprising that in February 2019, the bank was the first to go bold with its digital-first strategy; closing a number of branches and introducing a raft of online self-service platforms. The changes caused a slight disruption in the bank’s market position, but going by 2020’s results, it appears the decision to digitally leapfrog the industry is paying off big- and it is just the beginning.

CEO ReporterMay 5, 2021May 9, 2021

Standard Chartered bank Uganda. The bank will now pay UGX15 million in damages for illegally debiting a client's account. PHOTO/Courtesy

Standard Chartered Bank Uganda (SCBU), a subsidiary of the out-of-London global banking giant, Standard Chartered Plc, has bounced back into the industry’s top three largest banks, according to its just-released 2020 results. The results, published on April 30th 2021, show that SCBU regained its No.3 position in assets and deposits, which it lost to Absa Bank in 2019. It also maintained its third position on revenues. Assets grew by 21.5% from UGX3.2 trillion to UGX3.8 trillion, on account of a UGX 1.25 trillion lending book, increased cash and balances held with the central bank that grew from UGX347.2 billion…

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