Kampala, Uganda — Uganda's biggest banks recorded bumper profits in 2023 amidst industry turmoil that forced smaller banks to either divest their shares or voluntarily downgrade to credit institutions in response to the regulator's revised capital requirements to remain operational.
Listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange, SUHL oversees a diversified portfolio including Stanbic Bank, Stanbic Properties, SBG Securities, Stanbic Business Incubator, and FlyHub, collectively employing close to 2,000 individuals. Standard Chartered Bank, for now, showed a significant rise in profits, doubling from Shs 40 billion to Shs 80 billion. Sanjay Rughani, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank, cited the bank's robust growth to sustained income momentum across key business lines and significant reductions in credit impairments.
Diamond Trust Bank profit after tax went up from Shs35 billion to Shs41 billion during the period under review, aided by an upward trend in interest income on deposits and placements, loans and advances, and on investment securities. However, the lender experienced a jump in expenses from Shs185 billion to Shs263 billion.On the other hand, dfcu recorded a slight decline in net profit from Shs29.4 billion to Shs28.7 billion during the same period under review, citing an increase in expenses.
KCB too faced a slight reduction in profit after tax from Shs32 billion to Shs30 billion. However, its total expenses went up from Shs93 billion to Shs126 billion, citing increased interest expense on deposits and credit impairment expense for loans and advances. The bank had its assets grow from Shs1 trillion to Shs1.3 trillion.
Surprisingly, Equity Bank, which recorded profits for years since its entry into the Ugandan market in 2008, reportedly made a Shs 18.8 billion loss. This development comes at a time when five Equity Bank staff members were in March this year remanded to Luzira prison on charges of conspiracy to defraud the bank of Shs 62 billion through unsecured loans.
Financial experts, however, notes that the financial institutions are expected to generate more revenues this financial year because of a projected 6% growth in the economy and the ongoing investment in oil and gas.
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