In the late 1990s and early 2000s, a number of indigenous banks sprung up in Uganda. Many however did not live to celebrate a 5th anniversary, having been declared insolvent and taken over by Bank of Uganda (BoU). Most were eventually sold to the foreign banks or liquidated primarily due to mismanagement.
The Co-operative Bank’s assets, for example, were sold to the Standard Bank and the Greenland Bank was liquidated. Others like the International Credit Bank, Teefe Bank and Gold Trust Bank were closed down. Additionally, the Uganda Commercial Bank, which at the time was the biggest local bank, was sold to the Standard Bank of South Africa. It was later rebranded into the Stanbic bank. Today, Stanbic remains Uganda’s most profitable bank.
This turmoil in the Ugandan banking sector forced government to freeze the licensing of commercial banks in 2004. In 2007, the sector was re-opened after a considerable clean-up process.
One bank however survived those troubling days in the country’s banking sector. Crane Bank opened its doors to the general public in 1995. According to BoU, Crane Bank is now Uganda’s 4th most profitable bank as of 2014 and is the 2nd most profitable indigenous bank in Uganda after Centenary bank.
The bank celebrated its 20th anniversary in April, 2015 at the Kabira Country Club in Bukoto-Kampala. The event was attended by high profile business personalities and government officials.
Building Wealth; Five Ugandan Entrepreneurs Democratizing Access to Investments.The Birth of Crane Bank
Behind this celebration lies an amazing story of how this bank and its owner Sudhir Ruparelia managed not only to sail through the Ugandan market but also spread to neighbouring Rwanda.
Crane Bank Boss Sudhir Ruparelia
It should be noted that the success of Mr Ruparelia’s earlier businesses led to the birth of Crane bank. In the late 1980s, “Sudhir
