Centenary Bank Uganda is set for a significant leadership transition, with CPA Godfrey Byekwaso appointed as the incoming Managing Director, while long-serving Managing Director Fabian Kasi prepares to transition to the role of Group Chief Executive Officer at Centenary Group, the bank’s holding company.
According to highly placed sources within the institution, Byekwaso’s appointment has received regulatory approval from the Bank of Uganda and is expected to take effect in July 2026. The move is part of a broader restructuring across the Centenary Group, aligning leadership roles with evolving regulatory requirements and the Group’s expanding regional footprint.
The transition will also trigger a leadership search in Malawi, where Byekwaso currently serves as Managing Director of Centenary Bank Malawi. Sources indicate that the process to identify his successor is already underway, even as the Group prepares for a phased leadership handover over the next 12–18 months.
A Strategic Appointment, Not Just a Promotion
Byekwaso’s appointment is widely viewed within the Group as a strategic deployment of a long-serving insider rather than a conventional promotion. Having spent over a decade as General Manager Finance (Chief Financial Officer) at Centenary Bank Uganda, he was part of the leadership team that helped scale the bank into one of Uganda’s largest financial institutions, with assets exceeding UGX 8.6 trillion and over 3.4 million customers as of the end of December 2025.
His move to Malawi in April 2023 as Deputy Managing Director, and subsequent elevation to Managing Director in October 2024, placed him at the centre of one of the Group’s most ambitious regional expansion efforts. At the time, Centenary Group had just acquired a struggling banking institution in Malawi, marking the first such cross-border expansion by a Ugandan bank.
Over the past two years, Byekwaso has overseen a structured turnaround of the Malawian subsidiary, moving it from stabilisation to measurable growth. In 2025—his first full year as Managing Director—the bank delivered a strong financial recovery, with customer deposits rising by 55% from MWK 135.2 billion to MWK 209.7 billion, total assets expanding by 46% from MWK 168.1 billion to MWK 245.5 billion, and profit after tax increasing by 168% from MWK 1.9 billion to MWK 5.1 billion.
The turnaround was underpinned by a rebuilt revenue engine, with total income growing by 84% to MWK 50.3 billion, supported by a 51% increase in interest income (MWK 25.5 billion to MWK 38.5 billion). Total non-interest revenue increased by 70% to MWK 26.1 billion from MWK 15.4 billion.
On the balance sheet, growth was driven by a deliberate shift toward lower-risk assets, with government securities more than doubling from MWK 61.2 billion to MWK 141.2 billion, while loans and advances remained broadly stable at MWK 56.8 billion, reflecting a cautious approach to credit expansion. At the same time, he led an aggressive clean-up of legacy risks, with impairment charges rising from MWK 3.3 billion to MWK 14.8 billion, signalling a focus on strengthening asset quality and long-term balance sheet resilience.
From CFO to Turnaround Leader
Byekwaso’s career trajectory reflects a steady progression through senior finance and leadership roles spanning more than two decades. Before joining Centenary Bank Uganda in 2012, he held senior finance positions at FINCA Uganda and FINCA International, where he gained experience in multi-country operations, financial management, and institutional transformation. He has also received industry recognition for his work, including being named Chief Finance Officer of the Year in 2020 at the ACCA Uganda and Deloitte Uganda CFO Awards, as well as earlier recognition for excellence in strategy execution, reflecting his strength in translating financial discipline into institutional performance.
Notably, his professional journey has overlapped extensively with that of Fabian Kasi. The two worked together at FINCA Uganda in the mid-2000s and later at Centenary Bank Uganda, where Byekwaso served as CFO under Kasi’s leadership for over ten years. This long-standing professional relationship is seen as a key factor underpinning continuity in leadership philosophy, financial discipline, and institutional culture within the Group.
His appointment to lead Centenary Bank Uganda, therefore, reflects both experience and institutional trust, positioning him to sustain the bank’s growth while navigating an increasingly complex regulatory and operating environment.
Byekwaso’s return to Uganda marks a shift from regional turnaround to core market leadership. Having stabilised and repositioned Centenary Bank Malawi, he now assumes responsibility for the Group’s flagship operation. Centenary Bank Uganda remains the Group’s largest entity by assets and customer base, and sits at the centre of its overall strategy.
A Coordinated Leadership Transition
Byekwaso’s elevation comes as part of a broader leadership realignment within Centenary Group.
Fabian Kasi, who has served as Managing Director of Centenary Bank Uganda since 2010, is expected to transition to the role of Group Chief Executive Officer. In this capacity, he will oversee the holding company and its subsidiaries, including operations in Uganda and Malawi, as well as any future regional expansion initiatives.
Sources indicate that Kasi will support Byekwaso through the transition period before fully assuming his Group responsibilities, likely in early 2027. This phased approach is intended to ensure continuity in leadership and minimise disruption during the restructuring process.
At the same time, Centenary Bank has recently undertaken a significant restructuring at the Executive Director level, adopting a dual-Executive Director model to strengthen oversight and execution. The appointment of Michael Opira as Executive Director, Operations—alongside Joseph Balikuddembe, Executive Director, Business—marks a deliberate shift toward separating growth from operational execution and improving coordination at the top of the organisation.
This restructuring, driven by the Board, reflects the increasing scale and complexity of the bank and is aimed at enhancing decision-making, strengthening operational efficiency, and supporting the institution’s next phase of growth.
At the governance level, it is also understood that Professor John Ddumba Ssentamu, who has been serving as Executive Chairman of Centenary Group, is expected to transition into a non-executive Board Chairman role over time, in line with evolving governance structures.
The Regulatory Driver: A New Era for Holding Companies
While the leadership changes reflect internal succession planning, they are also closely linked to recent regulatory developments.
In November 2025, the Bank of Uganda introduced Guidelines on Financial Holding Companies, which fundamentally reshape how banking groups are structured, supervised, and governed. The new framework brings holding companies under direct regulatory oversight, requiring them to meet strict governance, capital, and risk management standards.
Among the key provisions is the requirement for a clear separation between bank operations and holding company oversight. Financial holding companies must be non-operating and cannot interfere in the day-to-day management of regulated banks. They are also required to ensure group-wide compliance, manage risks across subsidiaries, and maintain prescribed capital levels.
These changes effectively necessitate distinct leadership structures, with dedicated executives at both the bank and group levels. For Centenary Group, this has translated into the creation of a more clearly defined Group CEO role, separate from the Managing Director of the bank.
The guidelines also introduce consolidated supervision, allowing the central bank to monitor risks across the entire group rather than at the level of individual subsidiaries. This is particularly significant for institutions like Centenary, which now have cross-border operations.
Looking Ahead
The coming months will be critical as Centenary Group implements its new leadership architecture and aligns with regulatory requirements ahead of the November 2026 compliance deadline for financial holding companies.
Key areas to watch include the appointment of a new Managing Director for Centenary Bank Malawi, the phased transition of Fabian Kasi into the Group CEO role, and the operationalisation of the holding company structure under the new regulatory framework. Equally important will be how the recently introduced dual-Executive Director model strengthens execution, oversight, and coordination within the bank.
For Centenary Bank Uganda, Byekwaso’s appointment signals continuity in leadership and strategy, even as the institution adapts to a more complex, tightly supervised operating environment.
Ultimately, the changes point to something larger than a routine succession. They reflect a deliberate shift toward a more structured, governance-led and regionally integrated financial group—one that is aligning its leadership, operations, and oversight with the demands of a more regulated and increasingly interconnected banking landscape.
