Gov’t Earmarks 500b To Capitalise Post Bank 

By Our Reporter

Kampala – The shareholders, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, have committed to inject Ugx500b in the bank and push for its capitalization agenda.

Post Bank Uganda, a financial institution that is committed to empowering lives and transforming livelihoods, on Monday, held its annual general meeting at the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development headquarters.

Speaking to the press after the closed-door AGM, Hon. Anite Evelyn, the Minister of State for privatization and Investment revealed that government had resolved to increase Post Bank’s authorized share capital by 400% from Ugx100b to Ugx500b.

For customers, this means that access to low-priced financing would further be enabled while the Bank will benefit in terms of reduced cost of operations.

Hon. Anite lauded Post Bank for attaining Tier One status and congratulated the new Board and Management for reviving the bank’s past glory. “Previously the bank had been tainted with corruption, but ever since the new management came in, there has been significant growth of the brand,” Anite said.

She further added that government will inject Ugx50b, in the short term, to meet the emerging regulations on minimum capital requirements for banks and continue to lobby for the capitalization of Post Bank’s earnings.

“The government in partnership with Post Bank has put in place programs that are intended at transforming the livelihoods of Ugandans. They include the Small Business Recovery Fund which is available at a 10% interest rate p.a with financing of up to Ugx200m,” Anite remarked adding that, “Agriculture is the backbone of our country and in a bid to address the issue of food security we initiated the Agriculture Credit Facility (ACF) to help agribusinessmen access affordable credit.”

Hon. Haruna Kasolo, Minister of State for Microfinance, who was representing the Minister of Finance, said that Ugandans need to understand that PostBank is their bank. “Post Bank is 100% government owned, therefore it is your bank. I applaud the bank for and call upon it to continue offering affordable financing to micro, small and medium enterprises.”

In 2020, Post Bank embarked on a transformation journey, that saw the rigorous restructuring of the bank’s organogram, enhancement of the bank’s digital banking channels like the PostApp, Post Mobile, Post Agents and ATMs, reinforcement of human resources and strengthening of the bank’s risk framework. This culminated in the Bank’s acquisition of a Tier One operating licence making it a fully-fledged commercial bank.

Andrew Otengo Owiny, the Board Chairman, Post Bank Uganda, thanked the shareholders for their support towards the progress attained by the Bank. He welcomed the recommendations from the shareholders and pledged to utilize them to grow PostBank into one of the leading financial institutions in the country.

Julius Kakeeto, the Managing Director, Post Bank, re-emphasized that, “Today, we are a fully-fledged commercial bank and are able to compete favorably on the market. We now trade in foreign currency, offer cheque books to our customers, and are in the clearinghouse among many other things.”

“We’ve also built our service delivery in terms of self-serve banking channels, a wide branch network of 52 branches, 60 smart ATMs that enable instant cash deposits and card-less withdrawals, and tailor-made products like the Agriculture Credit Facility (ACF) offered in partnership with BoU, asset financing, Kyappa loans for people seeking to acquire and own land and smallholder farmer financing and recently supporting the key suppliers to coffee exporters.”

Kakeeto concluded by saying that: “I would like to resound our gratitude to our shareholder for increasing the authorized share capital to Ugx500b. We shall continue to offer affordable and sustainable financial services that drive financial inclusion for the socio-economic development of our country.”

In the Integrated Report 2021 that was shared with the shareholders, the Bank recorded a net profit after tax of Ugx12.2b, a 22% increase from 10 Bn recorded in 2020. Assets of the Bank grew to Ugx745b while customers deposits and loans grew by 12.9% to Ugx507b and by 36% to Ugx454b respectively.