Tag: Uganda Bankers Association

UIBFS and Uganda Bankers Association Champion Talent Development for a Future-Ready Financial Sector

A landmark convention positioning talent as the key driver of Uganda’s financial sector growth

Kampala: The Uganda Institute of Banking and Financial Services (UIBFS), in partnership with the Uganda Bankers Association, yesterday Monday hosted the inaugural Talent Convention 2026, a high-level industry engagement focused on strengthening talent development across Uganda’s banking and financial services sector. The convention brought together industry leaders, regulators, HR professionals, and emerging talent to explore strategies for building a resilient, future-ready workforce capable of driving Uganda’s ambitious economic transformation agenda, the 10- fold growth in the country as instituted by the government of Uganda.

Held at the Mestil Hotel, the convention served as a platform for critical dialogue on the evolving role of talent in an industry shaped by digital transformation, changing workforce dynamics, and global competitiveness. In her opening remarks, the CEO of UIBFS, Goretti Masadde, emphasized the central role of talent in driving industry growth: “As the sector continues to evolve—driven by digital transformation, changing customer expectations, and global shifts—we are reminded that our greatest asset is not technology, nor capital, but people—that is talent.”

She also emphasized the need to have this conversation right now to strategize how the industry can achieve the 15-year plan to expand the economy from USD 50 billion to USD 500 billion by 2040. She reminded participants that human capital lies at the heart of this ambitious 10-fold strategy and therefore this conversation is paramount for the growth of the banking and financial services industry.

Delivering a keynote perspective on behalf of the Governor Bank of Uganda-Mr. Michael Atingi-Ego, Mr. David Kalyango, Executive Director of Banking Supervision at the Bank of Uganda, highlighted the importance of human capability in economic transformation: “Every economy that has achieved a decisive and durable transformation has done so through the deliberate, systematic cultivation of human capability,” he said.

He too re-echoed the need to train human capital with the right skills ahead of time to better position the economy and achieve the 10-fold strategy. He stated that this strategy implies a corresponding increase in the scale and complexity of financial intermediation, which is essentially a talent challenge.

Therefore, the industry will require more deep-sector-specific knowledgeable talent. The convention featured insightful panel discussions addressing key industry challenges and opportunities.The first panel explored futureproofing talent for a digital and generational shift, with Mrs. Rachael Dumba speaking on preparing for Gen Z and tech-driven talent, while Dr. Canon Ruth Senyonyi emphasized the importance of balancing growth with employee wellness. This session was moderated by Daphne Ntegyereize Oboth.

The second panel focused on succession planning as a governance imperative, led by Mr. Zedi Muyingo, who underscored that succession planning must begin at the Board level and be treated as a governance responsibility rather than an operational task. The session was moderated by Mary Lillian Manyonga.

A key theme emerging from the convention was the urgent need for institutions to intentionally invest in talent development, particularly in light of evolving workforce dynamics. As noted by Ms. Fatuma Namatovu, Head Culture Transformation at dfcu Bank, organizations must address the growing gap between rapid career progression and readiness, which poses risks to leadership depth and institutional stability.

The convention also highlighted the critical link between talent and national development.

Speaking on behalf of the Uganda Bankers Association, Mrs. Patricia Amitto – Head Communications and Corporate Affairs emphasized: “Strategic plans do not create growth—people do. The success of our industry’s ambitions rests entirely on the talent we develop and manage.”

The Talent Convention 2026 reinforces UIBFS’ commitment to: Strengthening talent development across the financial services sector Supporting leadership pipeline development and succession planning Enhancing capacity in a rapidly evolving digital environment Promoting sustainable growth through people-centered strategies Aligning industry talent with Uganda’s long-term economic transformation goals.

The success of the convention was made possible through the support of key industry sponsors, including Pearl Bank, I&M Bank, Pride Bank, United Bank for Africa, Centenary Bank, Cairo Bank Uganda, Tropical Bank and Opportunity Bank.

March 31, 2026
Next Media Launches New Campaign “Beera Steady”

Earlier today Next Media together with Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), MTN Uganda, Bank of Uganda, Equity Bank Uganda, Uganda Bankers Association, and the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance launched new a campaign called Beera Steady.

The new campaign Beera Steady is aimed at encouraging Ugandans to get used to digital money with requisite knowledge on how to safeguard their money from fraudsters.

Addressing the guests and media today at the launch held at Next Media Park was the Next Media CEO Kin Kariisa said that the future of business is in digital and the sooner the Ugandan business community understands and appreciates this, the quicker they will adapt to modern-day demands

“This is the campaign that is part of our commitment to Inform to Transform our motherland. This is a two-year behavioral change campaign here to make Ugandans better on the financial literacy front. Now that we are using digital money, how do we work together to secure it?” “He also added saying that while business is increasingly going digital, the common man is yet to be equipped with skills and knowledge on how to protect their investments or avoid being duped,” added Kin Kariisa the Next Media CEO.

According to MTN Uganda CEO Sylvia Mulinge said that as Uganda’s most widespread telecom with the largest customer base, fighting online fraud is a top priority. She welcomed the campaign of not just getting Ugandans to adopt a digital-first business approach but also educating them on how to avoid traps set by unscrupulous people online.

UCC’s Irene Kaggwa Ssewankambo said the Beera Steady campaign is part of their initiatives to bring Ugandans up to speed on the benefits and perils that they may face as they transition into digital business life. She pledged full support for the campaign that empowers Ugandans to take ownership of their digital footprint which will help economically develop the country.

Anthony Kituuka, the MD of Equity Bank Uganda, commented on the campaign, saying, “We cannot deny that we are in a digital economy. Therefore, it is upon us to ensure the safety of money. “Beera Steady – Be Better” is here to teach our customers and the economy to Be Better and steady.”

The Beera Steady campaign attracted a wide array of stakeholders in the business community.

Wilbrod Owor, the ED of the Uganda Bankers’ Association, also supported the campaign, saying, “These days, fraud is a full-time business and undermines the economy. Coming together on “Beera Steady – Be Better” to work against it is very important. This will build trust, support digital adoption, and that’s the future… Money has evolved from cowrie shells to gold to digital currency, which is the now and future. This needs to be protected and safeguarded.”

Colonel Emmanuel Katabazi, the Deputy Director General of the Internal Security Organisation and Chair of the Cyber Security Task Force, remarked, “The Minister of Security about a month ago launched our task force on cyber security. On behalf of the Cyber Security Task Force, we are committed to ensuring the digital space is safe and everybody is steady.”

Mackay Aomu, the Director of National Payments Systems at the Bank of Uganda, said, “I am pleased that “Beera Steady – Be Better” is aligned with the Bank of Uganda mandate; promoting sound financial systems in support of social-economic transformation that is achieved in many ways.”

Closing of the launch, Minister for ICT and National Guidance and Guest of honor at the Beera Steady launch Dr. Chris Baryomunsi, pledged the government’s support to the campaign, “I want to pledge that we shall give full support and work together for the success of the campaign.”

March 14, 2023
Uganda Bankers Association elects a new Chairman

Members of Uganda Bankers Association (UBA) held theirannual general meeting on the 22nd May 2020 and elected Mr. Mathias Katamba, as the new Chairman taking over from Mr. Patrick Mweheire who served for two years (2018 & 2019).

Mr. Katamba is the Chief Executive Officer of dfcu Bank Uganda.

Other members elected on the executive committee of UBAinclude;

• Ms. Sarah Arapta, Citibank CEO as Vice Chair,

• Mr. Varghese Thambi, CEO Diamond Trust Bank as HonTreasurer,

• Mr. Sam Ntulume, CEO NC Bank as Hon. Auditor

• Mr. Albert Saltson, CEO Standard Chartered Bank, Committee Member

• Ms. Veronica Namagembe, CEO Pride Microfinance (MDI), Committee Member

The new leadership assumes responsibility at a time when the industry has registered significant improvements in the areas of profitability, credit extension, channels and growth in assets over the past year 2019.

In his last message as Chairman of UBA, Patrick Mweheirenoted that in 2019, two financial institutions namelyOpportunity Bank and Afriland Bank were issued with commercial banking licenses bringing the total number of tier I banks to 26 and highlighted that the total assets of the banking industry had increased by 16.7% from Ugx 28.1 trillion at end of December 2018 to Ugx 32.8 trillion as at December 2019.

This growth was attributed to;

Growth in loans & advances by 13.9% from Ugx 12.7 trillion reported in 2018 to Ugx 14.46 trillion in 2019. In the year 2019, the banking industry registered a growth in loans/ credit facilities spread across most sectors with Real Estate & Construction accounting for 20.2 % of the total industry loan book, followed closely by trade & commerce at 19.2% personal & household loans at 18.4%, followed by agriculture and manufacturing at 13.5% and 12.8 % respectively.

Lending to agriculture registered the highest annual growth rate of 18.1% (Ugx 298 billion) largely attributed to lending extended in the areas of agro–processing (Ugx 219.2 billion).

i. Growth in customer deposits by 18.4% from Ugx 19.6 trillion in December 2018 to Ugx 23.2 trillion in December 2019. Shillings deposits stood at 14.2 trillion (62.8%) while FX deposits were recorded at 8.7 trillion (37.2%).

ii. Growth in total number of accounts recorded at 15,423,426 as at December 2019 compared to 12,172,484 as at December 2018 representing a growth of 21%.

iii. Growth of access channels, specifically agent banking points across the country increased to 12,154 by end of December 2019. In the previous years, the industry operated less than 800 branches & 1,000 ATMs across the country with high costs incurred in maintenance of these channels.

Aggregate cost to income ratio improved from 73.9% in 2018 to 61.4% in 2019. Eight banks however made losses in 2019 largely brought about by more provisioning for non-performing loans.

Mr. Mweheire in his statement noted that the cornerstone of the industry’s medium term (2019-2021) strategy remains leveraging ICT for digital financial services to increase access to and drive initiatives to lower the cost of delivering financial services. He reported that the association spearheaded the project to build infrastructure to enable member financial institutions gain access to the national identity and registration authority (NIRA) database for purposes of verification of identity and authentication of transactions which project is expected to go live this year 2020.

Patrick also highlighted in his statement the strategy retreat held with Bank of Uganda to dimension and review the much-needed regulatory reforms to help take the sector to the next level and reported that a joint UBA-BOU Taskforce was put in place to work with consultants engaged with the assistance of FSDU to work through the details and ensure completion of this assignment before end of 2020.

Regarding the challenge of case backlog & capital tied up in litigation cases, Mr. Mweheire reported that the association, working in collaboration with the Uganda Law Society and other stakeholders had championed the establishment of aprivate sector led arbitration center (the International Centerfor Arbitration & Mediation in Kampala (ICAMEK) that was launched on the 25th April 2019.

The establishment of ICAMEK was triggered by the growing number of commercial disputes. Consequently, the demand from various stakeholders was to have an effective dispute resolution mechanism that fosters speedy resolution of disputes & to unlock capital & business growth therein.

On the future outlook, the outgoing Chairman noted that the outbreak of COVID-19 and its impact across most sectors had fueled uncertainty and was expected to have serious economic implications including reduced economic and investment activity precipitated by supply side shocks for the economy.

He said in an effort to address the cash flow challenges arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Supervised Financial Institutions are offering credit relief and loan restructuring measures over a period of 12 months that customers can access through their respective institutions. These include a moratorium, extension of the loan repayment period, and other forms of restructuring provided for under the requisite regulations. Financial institutions also waived off (zero rated) charges for bank to wallet transactions, as well as transactions below Ugx 50,000/= at ATMs or agent locations during the lockdown period.

He further added that the industry had todate responded to Government’s call and contributed a combined sum of Ugx2.8 billion by way of cash, PPE and various forms of support towards the fight against effects of COVID-19.

May 28, 2020
Standard Chartered and Uganda Banker’s Association in fight against Cybercrime

Kampala: Standard Chartered Bank Uganda in partnership with Uganda Banker’s Association have today spearheaded industry discussions on Information and Cyber Security (ICS) as a principal risk type arising from the digital and technology revolution.

The session was attended Heads of Operations, Heads of Information Technology, Heads of Compliance, Heads of Risk Management and Audit as well as media who converged at Golden Tulip hotel to understand the global and local trends in ICS, discuss the emerging regulations and learn how to build a Cyber Secure culture.

Albert Saltson while welcoming the participants said; “At Standard Chartered Bank we take Information and Cyber Security as a key risk and we have therefore put in place dedicated initiatives to identify, respond to, and protect the bank from Information and Cyber Security Risks Since Cybercrime is a growing threat to everyone and all corporations, we have created dedicated forums and resources to discuss the ICS Risk and find ways to mitigate it. We have taken this step to spearhead industry discussions in partnership with Uganda Bankers Association and other stakeholders on this important topic as part of our commitment to share our knowledge, expertise and best practice with the Ugandan market. As an international bank with a wide footprint, we have the advantage of learnings from our network that we believe adds value to the Uganda Banking sector. We will continue to premise our service proposition to our clients on the provision of High-quality service to remain a trusted and reliable business partner to them. We will therefore continue to study and intricately understand our operating environment, manage any emerging risks and support the sector as we go along”.

While addressing the participants, the Uganda Banker’s Association Executive Director Wilbrod Owor revealed;

“We are witnessing rapid evolution especially in the banking sector with financial institutions investing in and turning to digital solutions to enhance customer service and experience. Whereas this growth presents phenomenal business opportunities for the industry, it comes with risks associated with electronic connections to clients and others. Information and Cyber Security (ICS) risks have never been greater and the consequences of failure more impactful for our clients and our firms. We are therefore pleased to partner with Standard Chartered Bank to share their knowledge and experience on Information and Cyber Security with us.

Mr. Owor further added; “According to an article published by the independent newspaper on November 14, 2018, experts indicated that over 90% of Ugandans are Cyber Insecure. That statistic is staggering and implies that there is a very high likelihood of each one of us being impacted. It is therefore critical to counter cybercrime by sharing information in order to effectively tackle the ICS risk which is constantly growing in complexity. I appeal to financial services sector to understand the risk environment, be security cautious and vigilant around cyber risks as well as ensure they equip themselves with cyber knowledge that will help lower the likelihood of cyber risk events. I am confident that by the end of this session we will all be empowered to protect our Information from the risk of accidental, unauthorized or unlawful access, disclosure, modification, deletion or destruction, which could result in regulatory, reputational or financial consequences”.

Mr. Jonathan Kwofie the Regional Head Business ICS at Standard Chartered Bank, Africa on his part had this to say;

“The emerging Information and Cyber Security threats present themselves in different ways including; Denial-of-service attacks, Data espionage, Natural threats, Sabotage, Computer Frauds, Malicious attacks, Message falsification or injection, Vandalism, Copyright Violations, to mention but a few. It is also envisaged that as the technologies advance, a resultant proliferation of cyber threats will be witnessed. The recent ATM frauds and system hacking attacks that have happened in the Ugandan market are a clear indication that Cyber risk is already here with us so we need to move ahead of the culprits.”

Leah Kimata the Country Information Security Risk Officer, at Standard Chartered Bank East Africa added;

“It is estimated that the annual cost of cybercrime damage can be 6 trillion by 2021 and beyond. I therefore appeal to all stakeholders including, Government, Financial and non-Financial institutions, and other organizations to strategically plan and implement structures and technologies to help in combating cyber threats.”

Standard Chartered Bank has organized four stakeholder engagements on Information and Cyber security running from Monday 20^th to Thursday 23rd January 2020 for regulators, the industry, clients and its senior management.

January 23, 2020
2019 Annual Bankers Conference to focus on strengthening support to Agricultural sector

Uganda Bankers Association (UBA) is set to hold the 3rd Annual Bankers Conference (ABC) 2019 under the theme: De-risking financing & Investment in agriculture to promote decent youth employment and inclusive growth.

The One-day conference will be held on Tuesday 16th July 2019 at Kampala Serena Conference Center, Victoria Hall, Kampala, Uganda and will comprise a keynote address followed by a high level panel discussion.

Speaking at a Press Conference this afternoon, Wilbrod Oworthe UBA Executive Director said, “This year’s conference aims to facilitate a focused discussion among key players and stakeholders regarding financing of agriculture while leveraging on several perspectives for mitigating risk including market incentives, technology, insurance, research, specific policy frameworks, a wider support & collaborative framework to ensure sustainable growth & investment in the agriculture sector of Uganda.”

Patrick Mweheire, the UBA Chairman said we have chosen agriculture for a number of reasons, one being the strategic importance of the sector to Uganda’s social and economic progress. Agriculture is the main source of livelihood to the majority of Ugandans, employing over 70 percent of the workforce, and is also a major source of export revenue and raw materials for the agro industry.

Recent studies show that investment in agriculture continues to increase, but not as high as other sectors of the economy. Private Sector Credit to agriculture hovers between 12%- 13% compared to other sectors like trade, & real estate well at over 19% and 20% respectively.

“We would like as an industry to increase lending towards the Agricultural sector through interventions that address risks inherent in agricultural financing and the undertaking of agriculture as a business with all the discipline required therein.” Mweheire said.

According to Patricia Amito, Head Communications and Corporate Affairs, ‘The conference will focus on, 1) making financing agriculture attractive to financial institutions, 2) leveraging on technology as an enabler to provide a range of support information required to unlock the potential in Uganda’s Agriculture sector, and 3) using growth & transformation in the agricultural sector & its related value chains to promote financial inclusion & decent youth employment.”

Amito said; “ we expect over 500 participants including banking and non-bank financial sector executives, players from the insurance sector, international development partners and multi-lateral agencies, investment advisors, regulators, research associates and academia, policy makers, technocrats from governments, farmer groups & representatives from the various divisions of the agricultural sector (Crop, Animal, Fisheries, Forestry, Poultry) and the supporting service providers & players therein.

The conference will be officially opened in the morning by the Right Honourable Prime Minister of Uganda and will have opening ceremonies that include an address by the Governor, the Minister for Agriculture and a keynote address to be delivered by Marianne Schoemaker Managing Director, RaboPartnerships. The afternoon session will dive deeper in the three areas mentioned above.

Mastercard, the official sponsor this event expressed its commitment to supporting financial sector growth through capacity building, development of new products/services and initiatives to drive financial inclusion.

July 3, 2019
Uganda Bankers Association appoints Wilbrod Humphreys new Executive Director

Uganda Bankers Association has appointed Mr. Wilbrod Humphreys Owor as it new Executive Director, taking over from Mr. Emmanuel Kikoni who has steered the growth and direction of the association over the last sixteen years.

Wilbrod

Mr. Owor, together with the executive and management teams of the association, will be responsible for presenting industry members’ issues to policy makers, making recommendations for policy change and enhancement based on industry trends as well as interfacing with the finance industry regulators like Bank of Uganda on regulatory matters affecting the industry.

Speaking about his appointment, Mr. Owor said; “I’m honored to have received this appointment and I look forward to serving the industry the best way I can. As part of the executive team, our key focus will be on engaging industry players and being more responsive to the industry demands and trends so that the association is also more visible in shaping the future of the finance sector in Uganda.”

Mr. Owor who comes with 25 years of working experience, 20 of which he spent at senior management levels in banking, business development and management in financial and consumer services institutions in East Africa, with a proven track record of professionalism and integrity.

UBA donated Shs135m to Uganda Martyrs Shrines cause

He previously served as the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Executive Director and Head of Business at United Bank for Africa (UBA). He also worked as the Retail Banking Head in DFCU Bank, Channels Head at Barclays Bank and Financial Controller for Sara Lee H&BC (E.A), Budget Head for Colgate Palmolive (E.A) among others.

He holds a Master’s degree in strategic Management (ESAMI/MSM) and a degree in Bachelor of Commerce (Finance) from Makerere University.

September 8, 2016