Absa Bank Uganda Limited, formerly known as Barclays Bank of Uganda Limited, is a

commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution which accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make profit. It can also refer to a bank, or a division of a large bank, which deals with cor ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

. It is licensed by the

Bank of Uganda The Bank of Uganda ( sw, Benki Kuu ya Uganda) is the central bank of Uganda. Established in 1966, by Act of Parliament, the bank is wholly owned by the government but is not a government department. History In 1979 and again in 1987, the Ba ...

, the

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the currency and monetary policy of a country or monetary union, and oversees their commercial banking system. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central ba ...

and national banking regulator. The bank is a subsidiary of Absa Group Limited, a financial services conglomerate, based in South Africa, with banking subsidiaries in 12 African countries and representative offices in two other African countries. Absa Bank Group, whose shares trade on the

JSE Limited JSE Limited (previously the JSE Securities Exchange and the Johannesburg Stock Exchange) is the largest stock exchange in Africa. It is located in Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa, after it moved from downtown Johannesburg in 2000. In 200 ...

, was reported to have total assets in excess of US$91 billion, as of October 2019.

Overview

The bank is primarily involved in meeting the banking needs of individuals,

small and medium-sized businesses Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel and revenue numbers fall below certain limits. The abbreviation "SME" is used by international organizations such as the World Bank ...

(SMEs), and large corporations. Before 2006, the bank focused on meeting the banking needs of only large corporations and high-net-worth individuals. That focus was loosened to include SMEs and regular customers. As of December 2021, the bank's total assets were valued at UGX:3.9 trillion (US$1.1 billion), with shareholders' equity of UGX:521.956 billion (US$148 million). That year, the bank's after-tax profit was USh:110 billion (US$31.2 million). As of 31 December 2019, Absa Bank Uganda was the third-largest commercial bank in the country, by assets.

History

The bank opened in 1927, with two branches in the capital city,

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

, and one in Jinja, the country's second-largest commercial centre, at that time. In 1969, the bank acquired the Ugandan business of the

Commercial Bank of Africa Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA) was a financial services provider headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, the largest economy in the East African Community. CBA was licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya, the central bank and national banking regulator. ...

. In February 2007, the bank completed its acquisition of Nile Bank Uganda Limited, strengthening its presence in the country.

Ownership

In 1969, the bank's stock was 51 percent held by

Barclays Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

and 49 percent held by the

government of Uganda Uganda is a presidential republic in which the President of Uganda is the head of state and the prime minister is the head of government business. There is a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is ...

. By 2001, the bank had become a wholly owned subsidiary of Barclays. Since March 2016, the bank has been wholly owned by the

Barclays Africa Group Absa Group Limited (ABGL; formerly Barclays Africa Group Limited), and originally Amalgamated Banks of South Africa, is a South African-based financial services group, offering personal and business banking, credit cards, corporate and invest ...

. With the re-branding of

, in 2018, Absa Bank Uganda is a 100 percent subsidiary of

Absa Group Limited Absa Group Limited (ABGL; formerly Barclays Africa Group Limited), and originally Amalgamated Banks of South Africa, is a South African-based financial services group, offering personal and business banking, credit cards, corporate and invest ...

Branch network

The bank's headquarters is at 2 Hannington Road, on Nakasero Hill, in

. , the bank maintained branches at the following locations:

Name change

Beginning in August 2019, Barclays Bank of Uganda began re-branding to Absa Bank Uganda Limited. The process concluded on 11 November 2019, when the legal and business names of the bank changed to Absa Bank Uganda Limited.

Governance

The bank is governed by a

board of directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

. The chairman of the board is one of the non-executive directors. As of March 2020, the Acting Chairperson was Nadine Byarugaba. Effective 1 April 2020 Mumba Kalifungwa began serving as the substantive Managing Director and CEO. The former managing director is Mian Nazim Mahmood. He was appointed in July 2019, as Interim CEO, while a substantive chief executive was being sought. Nazim holds a

Bachelor of Business Administration Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) is a bachelor's degree in business administration awarded by colleges and universities after completion of undergraduate study in the fundamentals of business administration and usually including advanced ...

degree, awarded by the

University of Massachusetts, Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, i ...

and a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

in Finance from

Bentley College Bentley University is a private university focused on business, accountancy, and finance and located in Waltham, Massachusetts. Founded in 1917 as a school of accounting and finance in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, Bentley moved to Waltham in ...

, in

Waltham, Massachusetts Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, th ...

, all in the United States. Before that Rakesh Jha served in that position. He holds an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

in Marketing gained from IMED and a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

(BA) degree gained from the

University of Mumbai The University of Mumbai is a collegiate university, collegiate, State university (India), state-owned, Public university, public research university in Mumbai. The University of Mumbai is one of the largest universities in the world. , the un ...

. Immediately prior to his appointment as managing director, Jha was managing director of Barclays Bank Seychelles. As of October 2021, the members of the board are as listed in the table below.

Innovation

In December 2021, Absa Bank Uganda was the first financial institution in the country to introduce ATM machines capable of accepting and dispensing cash, using smart mobile phones, without the presence of the traditional ATM card. The Absa Banking App generates a QR Code, which the customer scans on to the ATM screen and then allows the execution of the desired transaction.

References

External links

Exclusive: Uganda’s Largest Banks By Assets Revealed
As at 24 May 2017.

As of 11 November 2019. {{coord, 00, 19, 14.5, N, 32, 35, 12, E, display=title Banks of Uganda

Absa Group Limited Banks established in 1927 1927 establishments in Uganda 1927 establishments in the British Empire Companies based in Kampala