By Marvin Ocol

In February 2023, a section of Stanbic Uganda staff and others connived and withdrew US$1.8 million from a client’s account. The money was withdrawn in five installments through bank accounts created in the names of three companies. Over eight suspects were arrested and charged in court. Stanbic Bank Uganda is a subsidiary of Stanbic Uganda Holdings Limited (SUHL), a franchise of the Standard Bank Group.

However, the heist impacted the SUHL 2023 results. 

SUHL results released in March 2023 indicate that although SUHL had planned for an operational loss of 0.9%, following the US$1.8 million incident, the operational loss hit 0.26%. The former Stanbic Bank Uganda Chief Executive Office, Anne Juuko, however, explained that there was no reason to worry since the 0.26% was still below the 2% bar. 

Overall, however, SUHL performed well in 2023. 

In March 2024, Stanbic Uganda announced a profit after tax of UGX 412 billion for the period ending December 2023, representing 15.2 percent growth from UGX 357 billion earned the previous year.

Trading on the Uganda Securities Exchange as Stanbic Uganda Holdings Limited (SUHL), it runs five business units, including Stanbic Bank—the anchor subsidiary; Stanbic Properties (in real estate); SBG Securities (in stock brokerage); Stanbic Business Incubator (SME training); and FlyHub (in technology solutions), collectively employing nearly 2000 people.

SUHL Chief Executive Francis Karuhanga attributed the strong growth of the franchise to sustained exceptional performance by its anchor business—Stanbic Bank—across its retail, business, and investment banking portfolios.

“Despite the operating challenge in 2023, our business demonstrated resilience and sustained double-digit growth, with a return on equity of 22.5 percent and shareholder returns increasing to UShs 1.9 trillion in 2023 from UShs 1.78 trillion in 2022. As a result, we shall increase our dividend pay-out to 68 percent for FY 2023, from 66 percent the previous year—subject to regulatory approvals,” said Karuhanga.

Juuko said that given the prevalent high interest rates in 2023, the bank had to devise innovative approaches—as we have done over the last four years—to ease the burden of borrowing on clients, especially smallholder farmers, women-owned businesses, civil servants, and the government of Uganda, which enabled them to access credit under friendly and flexible terms.

“For instance, in 2023, we boldly extended the repayment tenure of existing personal loans to up to seven years from five and created the much-needed legroom for top-up lending, which enabled access to money to finance pressing needs such as school, medical, and household expenses. As a result, our consumer loan book grew by UShs 369 billion in 2023 from UShs 309 billion the previous year—2022,” said Juuko.