Stanbic Uganda Holdings Limited (SUHL) made a profit of Shs 236 billion in the first six months of the year heralding another good year for Uganda’s leading financial group.
Stanbic Bank Uganda made up the bulk of the profits.
Customer deposits during the six months to June 2024, were up by 4.9% to Shs 6.6 trillion while total loans amounted to Shs 4.4 trillion a rise of 9.5 % compared to the same period in 2023.
SUHL Chief Executive, Francis Karuhanga said: “The bank subsidiary continues to be the anchor to our performance, as our beyond-bank subsidiaries gain momentum on their growth trajectory and augment our efforts to deliver on our purpose.”
Karuhanga said despite an uptick in inflation during the first half of the year, which caused the Bank of Uganda to raise the base rate to 10.25 % from 9.5% in December 2023, Stanbic Bank posted strong results on both the income statement and balance sheet.
“Our customer loan book grew by 9.5% representing over 21 pc of market share while the off-balance sheet book grew by 17.5% to Shs 2.2 trillion, representing a market share of over 40%. More importantly, we have been deliberately focused on supporting the growth of the SME segment of the economy, given that they generate 70% of manufacturing output and create 90% of new jobs,” Karuhanga said.
Between January and June this year, Stanbic Bank disbursed Shs 127 billion at below market interest rates at between 10 % and 12.2% to Savings and Credit Cooperative Organizations (SACCOs). It also lent Shs 100 billion also at a reduced interest rate of 15.5 % to women-owned enterprises under the Stanbic4Her product range.
“Our total assets of Shs 9.7 trillion (about $2.5 billion) are up 3.8 % from the previous year of UGX9.4 trillion and as such, we are in a much stronger position to support major development projects and further facilitate economic growth,” Karuhanga said.
Referring to the bank’s efforts in driving financial inclusion through the FlexiPay mobile payments app, Karuhanga said, “FlexiPay now has over 900,000 clients and continues to scale in terms of number of transaction and volumes. In the fullness of time, FlexiPay will enable us to achieve our objective of driving financial inclusion in Uganda.”
Karuhanga said: “We are optimistic that the economy will continue to grow as individual and commercial borrowers take advantage of lowering interest rates, should the cuts in the CBR continue.”
Besides Stanbic Bank Uganda, SUHL subsidiaries are SBG Securities, Stanbic Properties Limited; Flyhub, a fintech company and the Stanbic Business Incubator Limited.
