By Michael Kanaabi Dollar
Hon. Evelyn Anite the State Minister for Finance in Charge of Investment and Privatisation has urged Ugandans to bank with and take advantage of the wide range of services state owned bank Post Bank Uganda has to offer.
This was during the official unveiling of the Bank’s year end results for the year ended 31st December 2022 at the Kampala Serena Hotel earlier this week.
Anite said, “This is a government owned bank which is here to serve you fellow Ugandans and you should all have accounts there so that it can grow and push down interest rates on loans from the current 15% average to 10% in the medium term even up to about 6% which is our target as government for the long term.”
Representing the shareholder which is Ministry of Finance Planning and Economic Development at the event, Hon. Anite thanked the Bank’s new management and board under current Managing Director Julius Kakeeto and Board Chairman Andrew Owiny for the agile and relentless approach they have infused into the bank which has led to better results all round.
The bank raked in a solid 15.1 Billion Shillings in profits for the 2022 which represented a 19.3% jump in profits from the 12.2 Billion Shillings they registered in 2021.
Over the same period according to the financial statements audited by the Auditor General as required by law for government owned enterprises, the bank’s assets grew closer to the 1 trillion Shillings mark at the end of 2022 as they reached 946 Billion shillings up from 745 Billion shillings culminating into a year on year growth in assets of 21.3%.
Income over the same period shot up from 144.5 Billion shillings to 159.2 Billion shillings which can be partly attributed to the Bank’s consistent expansion with over 5 branches added over the past year and digital transformation that has added a lot of efficiency to the Bank’s services and made it accessible all across the country as long one has a mobile handset or internet connection.
Shareholder’s Equity also grew from 119 Billion shillings to 135 Billion shillings over the same period.
Andrew Otengo Owiny Post Bank’s board Chairman attributed the good performance of the bank to an increased focus on efficiency which has led to improvement in operations, greater visibility and better brand identity away from Posta which the bank was once part of.
“There have been tremendous strides taken from years back especially around digitisation with over 60 smart ATMs installed across the country, deeper reach into the communities with over 400 agents on boarded across the country all of which have pushed the bank to the current outstanding growth levels it is experiencing” he said.
Going forward as the board we shall drive the bank towards taking leadership in Agri-business and serving Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises as the backbone of Economic Development he added.
Post Bank CEO Julius Kakeeto thanked the shareholder which is government through the Finance Ministry for continuously supporting the Post Bank’s growth.
“At the Annual General Meeting, our share holder resolved that the bank be recapitalised with retained earnings of 19 Billion shillings which has driven up the bank’s paid up capital to 129 Billion shillings. This is above the interim requirements of Bank of Uganda for all commercial banks which currently stands at 120 Billion shillings. As a result the bank is also on course to meet and surpass Bank of Uganda’s revised core capital requirements for all Commercial banks of 150 Billion shillings by June 2024,” Kakeeto noted.
“With it’s capital up, core banking system and switch upgraded, digital channels improved, the bank is set to serve it’s core customers who mainly are Agri-businesses and MSMEs better going forward as it positions itself to reach even more customers,” he concluded.
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