DFCU Bank has told shareholders to brace for a loss in the first half of 2026, and at the heart of the financial pain is a legal battle in London pitting the bank against tycoon Sudhir Ruparelia and his family.
In a profit warning issued to the Uganda Securities Exchange on July 30, 2026, the bank said its unaudited results for the six months to 30 June 2026 will show a loss compared with the same period last year.
The bank said the loss was “attributed to high legal costs incurred during the period in connection with ongoing proceedings before the English High Court.”
Those proceedings were filed in 2020 by Crane Bank Limited and some of its shareholders in London against DFCU Limited, DFCUBank and other parties.
Although the statement does not name individuals, Crane Bank’s shareholders in that case include Sudhir Ruparelia, his wife Jyotsna, and other family members, along with Crane Bank itself.
Sudhir has for years accused DFCU and Bank of Uganda officials of colluding to strip Crane Bank of its assets at a fraction of their value.
The bank, however, tried to reassure investors that the loss does not reflect deeper trouble.
“The group remains resilient with its key fundamentals strong and on a sustained upward trajectory as indicated in the published financial results,” the statement read.
How dfcu ended up in a London courtroom
The dispute traces back to 2016, when Bank of Uganda took over Crane Bank after commissioning a forensic audit by PricewaterhouseCoopers. That audit found the bank was severely undercapitalised and flagged large loans to people connected to its owners.
In 2017, Bank of Uganda transferred selected Crane Bank assets and liabilities to DFCU. Sudhir has long disputed that process, arguing Crane Bank was solvent and that the sale to dfcu was engineered through a corrupt scheme involving central bank officials, not a genuine rescue of a failing lender.
Sudhir and his co-claimants took the fight to London in 2020, seeking damages reported to exceed Shs 840 billion (£170 million). They accuse DFCU of conspiracy to injure by unlawful means and of benefiting from assets transferred in breach of fiduciary duty.
In 2022, a UK judge threw it out for lack of jurisdiction but Sudhir appealed, and in July 2023 the Court of Appeal reinstated the case, ruling there were serious issues to be tried under Ugandan law.
The case is due for a full trial in London starting in October 2026 and is expected to run for around three months.
Yet despite the mounting legal costs, DFCU has not been in the red recently. Last year, the bank posted a net profit of Shs74.9 billion.
