A photo montage of some bank Chief Executive Officers and Managing Directors
Uganda’s banking industry assets grew by 186% to Shs52.98 trillion in 2024, up from Shs48.92 trillion in 2023, Business Focus exclusively reports.
This analysis is derived from the financial statements for the year ended 31st December 2024 that banks have been publishing lately. It’s important to note that banks are compelled to publish their financials for the previous year (in this case 2024) before May of the following year.
It’s also important to note that Uganda currently has 22 fully fledged commercial banks. This is after three banks including ABC Capital Bank, Opportunity Bank and Guaranty Trust Bank downgraded from a Tier I Commercial Bank License to a Tier II Credit Institution License effective July 1, 2024. The three banks failed to meet Bank of Uganda’s new minimum capital requirement of Shs150bn, resulting into the downgrade. The paid-up capital for tier II credit institutions is Shs25bn.
Largest banks by assets
The results show that the top five banks share 56.1% of the industry assets. Additionally, the top 10 banks control a dominant 81.24% of the industry assets, leaving the 12 banks to share a paltry 18.76% of the industry assets.
Stanbic Bank maintained its position as Uganda’s largest bank by assets. This is after its assets grew by 11.78% to Shs10.34 trillion in 2024, up from Shs9.25 trillion in 2023. Headed by Mumba Kenneth Kalifungwa as Chief Executive, Stanbic bank holds 19.52% of the industry assets. This means that Stanbic bank’s assets beat those of 12 banks combined.
Kalifungwa officially joined Stanbic in March this year, implying that he’s not responsible for the 2024 results. The impressive results can be attributed to Samuel Mwogeza who was appointed as Stanbic Bank Uganda Interim Chief Executive and Barbara Dokoria as Interim Executive Director, effective April 1, 2024. This followed the departure of Anne Juuko as CEO and Emma Mugisha as Executive Director.
Like on most key performance parameters, Stanbic is followed by Centenary Bank, an indigenous bank headed by Fabian Kasi as Managing Director.
Centenary has recorded impressive growth over the last decade, thanks to Kasi’s leadership that is driven by innovation.
Centenary’s assets grew by 12.32% to Shs7.11 trillion in the year under review, up from Shs6.33 trillion recorded in 2023. This gives the lender 13.42% share of the industry assets.
Absa bank is Uganda’s 3rd largest bank by assets. Headed by David Wandera as Managing Director, Absa saw its assets grow by 19.08% to Shs5.43% in 2024, up from Shs4.56 trillion recorded a year earlier.
Its market share under the assets category is 10.25%. This great performance can be attributed to Mumba Kenneth Kalifungwa and his team. Kalifungwa has since joined Stanbic Bank Uganda as CEO. Absa recently confirmed David Wandera as its new Managing Director.
Prior to this appointment, he served as Executive Director charged with the responsibility of delivering operational efficiencies within Absa Bank Uganda.
dfcu Bank is now Uganda’s 4th largest bank by assets, from the 6th position it held in 2023. Headed by Charles M. Mudiwa as Managing Director, dfcu’s assets grew by 8.13% to Shs3.46 trillion in the year under review, up from Shs3.2 trillion recorded in 2023, giving the lender a market share of 6.53% under this category.
It’s followed by Equity Bank in 5th position. Equity bank that is headed by Gift Shoko as Managing Director holds 6.38% of the industry assets. This is after its assets reduced to Shs3.38 trillion in 2024, down from Shs3.74 trillion in 2023.
Check for more details about banks with largest and smallest assets in the table below;
Standard Chartered Bank also known as StanChart has since moved out of the top five banks by assets. This is after its assets reduced by 8.49% to Shs3.34 trillion in 2024, down from Shs3.65 trillion recorded a year earlier. Headed by Sanjay Rughani as Chief Executive Officer, StanChart’s market share under the assets category is 6.3%. The bank’s performance on all key performance indicators declined.
This is after the lender announced it was divesting its Wealth and Retail business. The bank says the divestment process has since been initiated and is expected to be completed within 18-24 months subject to regulatory approvals.
Bank of Baroda has improved by one position to become Uganda’s 7th largest bank by assets. Headed by Shashi Dhar as Managing Director, Bank of Baroda’s assets grew by 10% to Shs3.08 trillion in the year under review, up from Shs2.8 trillion in 2023. This gives the lender a market share of 5.81% under this category.
Diamond Trust Bank (DTB) lost one position and is now Uganda’s 8th largest bank by assets. Headed by Godfrey Sebaana as Managing Director, DTB’s assets reduced by 4.67% to Shs2.86 trillion in the year under review, down from Shs3 trillion in 2023. This gives the lender a market share of 5.4% under this category.
Housing Finance Bank maintained its position as Uganda’s 9th largest bank by assets. Housing Finance, another indigenous bank is headed by Michael K. Mugabi as Managing Director. The bank saw its assets grow by 8.68% to Shs2.33 trillion in the year under review, up from Shs2.144 trillion in 2023, giving the lender a market share of 4.4% under the assets category.
KCB Bank is now the 10th leading bank by assets in Uganda. This is the first time the bank is breaking into the top 10 under this category. Headed by Edgar Byamah as Managing Director, KCB’s assets grew by 30.53% to Shs1.71 trillion in the year under review, up from Shs1.31 trillion in 2023. This gives the lender a market share of 3.23% under the assets category.
It’s also important to note that among the top 10 largest banks by assets in Uganda, only two banks are locally owned. These are; Centenary and Housing Finance Bank.
Business Focus’ analysis further shows that Ugandans are increasingly taking up top leadership positions in the banking industry. Unlike 10 years ago, among the top 10 largest banks by assets, at least five of them are headed/managed by a Ugandan. These include Fabian Kasi, who is the Managing Director at Centenary Bank; David Wandera, the Managing Director at Absa Bank Uganda; Godfrey Sebaana, the Managing Director at Diamond Trust Bank; Michael K. Mugabi, the Managing Director at Housing Finance Bank; and Edgar Byamah, the Managing Director at KCB Bank.
Check for more details about banks with largest and smallest assets in the table below;
Who takes what of the remaining 18.76% of the industry assets?
The top 10 banks control a commanding 81.24% of the industry assets, leaving the 12 banks to share 18.76% of the industry assets.
Citibank moved out of the top 10 banks by assets. It’s now in 11th position with a market share of 3.02%. The bank’s assets grew by 3.02% to Shs1.6 trillion in 2024, up from Shs1.38 trillion recorded a year earlier.
PostBank that is headed by Julius Kakeeto as Managing Director retained its 12th position with a market share of 2.68%. PostBank’s assets grew by 32.71% to Shs1.42 trillion in 2024, up from Shs1.07 trillion in 2023.
Its followed by Bank of Africa in 13th position with a market share of 2.26% under the assets category. Headed by Arthur Isiko, Bank of Africa’s assets grew by 13.21% to Shs1.2 trillion in 2014, up from Shs1.06 trillion recorded a year earlier.
It’s closely followed by I&M Bank in 14th position with a market share of 2.06% under this category. Headed by Robin Bairstow as Managing Director, I&M Bank’s assets grew by 15.41% to Shs1.09 trillion in the year under review, up from Shs944.48bn in 2023.
All the leading 14 banks have assets in excess of Shs1 trillion each. Their individual market share is also above 2%.
Small but surviving
However, the rest of the banks below the 14th position have assets that are yet to cross the Shs1 trillion mark. In fact, their individual market share is below 2% each.
NCBA Bank is Uganda’s 15th bank by assets. This is after its assets grew by 12.77% to Shs963.01bn in 2024, up from Shs853.97bn in 2023.
The smallest bank by assets in Uganda is Tropical Bank with a market share of 0.76%. Its assets grew by 5.38% to Shs404.74bn in the year under review, up from Shs384.07bn in 2023. Tropical bank is headed by Abdulaziz Mohamed A. Mansur as Managing Director.
From the bottom of the table, it’s followed by Cairo Bank and Bank of India with a market share of 0.77% and 0.93% respectively. Cairo bank’s assets stand at Shs410.37bn as of December 2024 while Bank of India’s assets are worth Shs493.87bn.
Other banks with small assets include Exim Bank (Shs527.29bn), Finance Trust Bank (Shs551.04bn), UBA (Shs623.09bn) and Ecobank (Shs688.93bn).
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