Stanbic Uganda Holdings (SBU) Ltd saw its profits in the first half of 2020 reduce by 4.9% compared to the same period in the previous year due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on client business.
Stanbic Bank Uganda Chief Executive Anne Juuko says the bank recorded a Profit After Tax of Shs127.7 billion, 4.9% down from Shs134.1 billion the previous year.
However, the bank saw its customer deposits grow by Shs1.1 trillion, a 27.3% year on year growth. Juuko says its loans and advances increased by Shs661 billion, a 24% year on year growth registered across the bank’s varied client segments on working capital and term financing.
“This growth was enabled by our strong client ecosystem engagement and simplifying client on-boarding,” the chief executive said. Patrick Mweheire, the chief executive of Stanbic Uganda Holdings Limited (SUHL) to which SBU is a subsidiary, says the bank also made significant strides towards achieving its strategic objectives set out in 2018 like venturing into other non-banking services that would enhance the value of products and services provided to its different stakeholders.
“Among the key achievements, SUHL successfully established two new subsidiaries: Stanbic Properties Uganda Limited, which will hold and manage the real estate portfolio and Stanbic Business Incubator Limited, which will manage enterprise development on behalf of the holding company and its subsidiaries. This brings the total of subsidiaries under the holding company to three, in addition to the Bank which was its first subsidiary,” Mweheire said.
The first Covid-19 case was reported in Uganda towards the end of March. The government subsequently announced a series of national lockdowns and other countermeasures to limit the spread of the disease.
The economy was adversely affected by the restrictions on movement and closure of businesses up until the end of May when the most recent lockdown was lifted. When the virus broke out in Uganda, SBU rolled out a number of initiatives to help cushion its customers from its impact.
"Amongst our priorities, we offered credit relief programmes to business and personal customers tailored to meet their needs and their businesses are sustained and the impact on the economy is minimized,” said Juuko.
“In addition, we waived all charges on our digital banking platforms so that customers could transact free of charge on our platforms. We also continued to provide banking services and kept 80% of our branches open to ensure our customers had access to our services.”
She said the Bank kept a promise to lower its prime lending rate (PLR) each time Bank of Uganda lowered its CBR.
“We lowered our PLR twice during the period to 16% which is one of the lowest PLRs of all active retail financial institutions in Uganda. Our aim was to ensure our customers can benefit from more affordable lending rates,” Juuko said.
She added that Stanbic doubled their investment in Corporate Social Responsibility. “We increased our investment in CSI and doubled our spend to provide the much-needed support in communities and to the Government through the provision of Protective Gear and fuel for front line workers complemented by our partnership with the Uganda Bankers Association,” she said.
Looking ahead, Juuko said, “Stanbic will focus its efforts on implementing initiatives to support the recovery of key sectors that were heavily impacted by the pandemic, especially the SME sector."
"Our customers remain our core focus and our ability to reshape our strategy and continue to innovate solutions that meet their needs will be our priority. We are committed to our purpose, to drive Uganda’s growth and continue to take the necessary actions to support our clients and contribute to the growth of Uganda’s economy," she concluded.
