The Bank of Uganda – BoU has commended Stanbic Bank Uganda for rational lending practices on interest rate for loans, credit cards and lines of credit.
Tumubweine Twinemanzi, Executive Director of the Bank Supervision Directorate of the Bank of Uganda said this at the commemoration ceremony of the Standard Bank Group’s 160th Anniversary, the mother company of Stanbic bank at Serena Kampala Hotel on Friday.
“We have heard the banking sector being abused about hiking interest rates, so far, Stanbic Bank is the only one whose prime rate is highly positively matching with the CBR (Central Bank Rate),” he said.
He said that Stanbic has been involved and spearheaded a number of thought leadership initiatives and as a result, a number of individuals and companies across the wider Ugandan economy have walked through its roads.
“Every month when we have our meeting with CEOs of the commercial banks, we always give an award for best primary dealers. Today, from the time we started issuing these awards about 4 years ago, Stanbic has a record of having won six consecutive times,” he revealed.
Tumubweine noted that Stanbic is also the first commercial bank in Uganda to apply for an e-wallet but also the first bank to cross one billion dollars in loans to customers.
He, however, advised the bank not to be comfortable noting that “just because you’ve been big in the past doesn’t mean you’ll remain big in the future.”
Anne Juuko – CEO Stanbic Bank Uganda noted; “Our group was born in 1862 in a small town called Port Elizabeth and our rules can be traced from there to spread away to 20 African countries and employing over 50,000 staff members and many more thousands indirectly but more importantly serving a total of 15 million customers across the entire continent. During this period, we have flown the same flag and our motto hasn’t changed. When the company was founded, the motto was; let the standards go forward, to this day, we still own and serve on those principles.”
“Today, we are extremely excited to celebrate a duo celebration because we are also celebrating our motherland Uganda which just made 60 years of Independence,” she added.
Juuko says reaffirmed the country of their commitment to the pursuit of success, noting that the same success they have had over the last 160 years will continue.
She also pledged their continued giving back to the community in different forms.
Uganda’s Corporate Finance and Capital Markets Luminary, Miriam Ekirapa Musaali, Passes On“This month is our customer service month but also our CSI month. Our CSI service has gone up, we have donated in billions to the maternal service sector, education sector, agriculture sector and increasingly, we will continue to do that in the next two weeks to the end of this month, so that we can give back to the community that has given us much for over the last 160 years.”
Keith Kalyegira, CEO, Capital Markets Authority commended the Stanbic for setting a very high standard that everyone wants to keep referring to.
“I think you raise expectations of the public to the point where everyone thinks every time there’s an IPO, it should be a repeat of what happened in the 2007 IPO when the share price tripled in one month and stayed there for some time.”
“Stanbic has been the most consistent dividend payer of overtime,” he added.
Prof. Patrick Mangheni— Board Chairman Stanbic Uganda Holdings Limited said that the Standard Bank Group’s 160th anniversary should inspire the youth of today who are at the start of their entrepreneurial journeys. “It is true, a business can start and thrive in Africa for 160 years.”
“Today, as a senior corporate citizen of Africa—our challenge and responsibility as Standard Bank Group is to nurture the young businesses of today, to grow into solid, thriving enterprises that will create jobs, pay taxes and indeed, drive Uganda/Africa’s growth.”
The Board Chairman, Stanbic Bank Uganda, Japheth Katto gave the history of the bank. He says it was founded in Uganda as the National Bank of India in 1906 before it became Grindlays Bank.
He notes that in 1991, Standard Bank bought the Grindlays Bank and renamed it Stanbic Bank (Uganda) Limited.
Today, Stanbic Bank is the largest commercial bank in the country, by assets. As of 31 December 2021, the bank’s total assets were valued at Sh8.713 trillion ($2.452 billion). At that time shareholders’ equity was valued at Sh1.483 trillion ($417.5 million). In June 2018, Fitch Rating Agency gave Stanbic Bank Uganda a AAA rating with a Stable outlook.
