Stanbic Bank Uganda Limited (SBU) is a commercial bank in Uganda and is licensed by the Bank of Uganda, the central bank and national banking regulator.

Overview

SBU is the largest commercial bank in the country, by assets. As of 31 December 2023, the bank's total assets were valued at USh9.303 trillion (US$2.408 billion). At that time shareholders' equity was valued in excess of USh1.881 trillion (US$486.952 million). In June 2018, Fitch Rating Agency gave Stanbic Bank Uganda a AAA rating with a Stable outlook.

Group

SBU is listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE), where it trades under the symbol SBU. It offers a range of banking products including Internet banking, mobile money, SME lending, and debit and credit cards, among other products. SBU is a subsidiary of Stanbic Africa Holdings Limited, which is in turn owned by Standard Bank Group Limited.

History

The bank was founded in Uganda as the National Bank of India in 1906. After several name changes, it became Grindlays Bank. In 1991, Standard Bank bought the Grindlays Bank network in Africa. The new owners renamed the bank Stanbic Bank (Uganda) Limited. Stanbic Bank (Uganda) Limited is licensed as a merchant banker, stockbroker, and financial adviser by the Capital Markets Authority, which licensed the USE in 1997. In 2017 the bank was awarded a bancassurance licence from the Insurance Regulatory Authority, authorizing Stanbic Bank to sell insurance products to its customers and the public. In February 2002, Standard Bank acquired 90 percent shareholding in the Uganda Commercial Bank, a government-owned retail banking operation with 65 branches. The new owners merged their new acquisition with their existing Stanbic Bank (Uganda) Limited to form Uganda's largest commercial bank by assets and branch network. In November 2005, the government of Uganda divested its ownership in Stanbic Bank (Uganda) by listing its shares on the USE. Standard Bank also floated 10 percent of its shareholding at the same time, reducing their ownership to 80 percent. On 19 February 2018, SBU informed its shareholders of the Board of Directors’ decision to re-organize the company’s corporate structure and operations through the formation of a group with a holding company to be called "Stanbic Uganda Holdings Limited" owning several subsidiaries engaged in different lines of businesses including a new banking subsidiary which effectively began on 28 November 2018.

Ownership

, the ownership of SBU stock, was as depicted in the table below:

Governance

The chairman of the board is Japheth Katto. Anne Juuko is the managing director.

Branch network

As of December 2023, SBU had a branch network of nearly 81 branches and 10 customers service points in all four regions of the country. Its network was the largest of all commercial banks in Uganda. At that time, it maintained 178 networked automated teller machines. Listed below were some of the branches of the bank:

Certification

In June 2022, Stanbic Bank Uganda became the first commercial bank in the country, to be awarded the ISO/IEC 27001:2013 Certification, by the British Standards Institution. The certification is in recognition of the bank's Information Security Management Systems "compliance with global standards".

Evolving Features

In May 2024, Stanbic Bank Uganda launched a brand new card reload feature that will allow all its customers holding prepaid cards to top up their card balances using its pre-existing service FlexiPay, by inserting the merchant code "Card" and providing client ID behind the card.