Tropical Bank Limited has unveiled Abdulaziz M.A Mansur as its substantive Managing Director.
Dennis Mugagga Kakeeto, the bank’s Executive Director, has been doubling as Managing Director in acting capacity, since October 2018, following the summary sacking of Sameh M. Krekshi, the then Managing Director, who was fired by the board on orders of Bank of Uganda over apparently consistently overdrawing his salary account.
Abdulaziz M.A Mansur, who has more than 28 years’ experience in the financial services industry, holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Accounting and Finance from the Yeditepe University in Turkey.
For five and a half years (2000-2005) he was seconded by the Libya Foreign Bank (LFB) to work as the head of audit at A&T Leasing Company, in Turkey, a subsidiary of A&T Bank, also in Turkey- itself majority owned by the Libyan Foreign Bank- an investment arm of the Libyan Central Bank.
LFB and the government of Uganda are joint shareholders in Tropical Bank, but LFB is the majority shareholder.
Between 2005 and November 2010, Abdulaziz, moved back to Tripoli, Libya and served as the Deputy Manager, Risk Management and Manager HR at Libya Foreign Bank. From December 2010 to September 2019 he served as the General Manager and one of the key people in starting up Nuran Bank- a joint venture between Libya Foreign Bank and Qatar Holding LLC- the investment arm of the Qatar Investment Authority.
Righting the wrongs of past management
Although Sameh M. Krekshi, who joined the bank in 2015, was sacked for seemingly overdrawing his salary account, a closer look at the bank’s performance between 2014 and 2018, reveals tells a story of gross performance failure, characterized by imprudent lending and subsequent debt write-offs and losses- perhaps the real reason why the former MD was summarily fired.
While deposits grew by 28.7% from UGX141.9 billion in 2014 to UGX182.6 billion in 2018, growth in lending was mixed. Between 2014 and 2016, the bank’s loan portfolio grew 22.6% from UGX115.8 billion to UGX142 billion, but during this time the bank got exposed to several defaults, causing Non Performing Loans (NPLs) to jump from UGX8.3 billion in 2014, to UGX14.9 billion in 2015; in 2016, NPLs more than doubled to UGX38.2 billion.
Although the bank slowed down lending, from UGX142 billion in 2016, to 139.1 billion in 2017 and then 128.7 billion in 2018, higher than normal NPLs refused to go away- UGX28.7 billion in 2017 and UGX21.9 billion in 2018. As a result, Tropical bank wrote down UGX11.8 billion in 2016, UGX12.06 billion in 2017 and UGX17 billion in 2018.
The NPLs drag effect combined with reduced lending severely impacted on the bank’s income and profit performance. Profitability has been mixed- while the bank posted a profit of UGX4.3 billion in 2014 and UGX1.9bn in 2015, in 2016, it was hit by a UGX13.4 billion loss, then another UGX5.5bn loss in 2017 and another UGX5.8bn loss in 2018.
Altogether, between 2016 and 2018, the bank has registered combined losses, amounting to UGX24.7 billion.
Redefining the CFO Role in Oil and Gas: Inside How UNOC’s Emmanuel Mugagga Is Executing Strategy for National ImpactTotal assets have also grown quite slowly- by 19.8% since 2014, from UGX241.7 billion to UGX289.5 billion in 2018- a compounded annual growth rate of 4%.
Abdul-Aziz’s job is clearly cut-out!
“I am here to help Ugandan businesses flourish,” Abdulaziz speaks out
Addressing the bank’s corporate customers at a dinner held at Hotel Africana on Thursday 26th September 2019, Mansur said that Tropical Bank’s objective is to support trade and development in Uganda.
“When the Bank was established in 1973 as a joint venture between the government of Uganda and Libyan Foreign Bank, its main objective was to support trade and development in Uganda and provide support in foreign trade with the outside world,” Mansur said.
“This is still our objective and I have come here as the new Managing Director of Tropical Bank to reinforce this vision. We strongly want our customers and their businesses to flourish and be successful. If our customers fail, so shall we as a Bank.”
He promised to offer customers unmatched financial services that are designed to meet their business requirements.
“Our doors are and will always be open to you. Just be transparent with us and allow us be the partners that will help you achieve your vision,” he added.
He said that the bank had committed resources to continuous innovation especially in the area of electronic and agent banking so as to make banking simple and easy for customers.
“Our Mobile Banking application and service is up and running. You can now have the bank in the palm of your hands, through your mobile phone. We have also introduced electronic fees payment through the use of School Pay system and in addition we are agents for Bancassurance services. We aspire to provide you with all banking services that you need, from high yield deposit products, to fairly priced lending products, insurance services, trade finance products and electronic banking channels,” he added.
Tropical bank has a network of 15 branches around the country, 8 of which are in Kampala. As at end of 2018, it was the 16th biggest bank (out of 24 banks) by assets (UGX289.5 billion), 17th biggest by lending (UGX128.7 billion) and customer deposits (UGX182.6 billion).
