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The first six months of 2022 presented a complex combination of ‘head’ and ‘tail’ winds that affected the economy
| THE INDEPENDENT | Stanbic Uganda Holdings Limited (SUHL) has recorded a 4.7% growth in profit-after-tax for the first six months to June.30 to Shs162billion.
This comes amidst an unpredictable operating environment characterized by global price instability and a tightening of monetary policies.
SUHL Chief Executive, Andrew Mashanda said the company’s performance was driven largely by our anchor subsidiary, Stanbic Bank Uganda Limited.
“Our new subsidiaries are continuing to deliver green shoots of hope for our strategic direction, in spite of the challenging operating environment,” he said.
He said, “SBG Securities remains a market leader in volumes and recently acquired clients of Equity Stockbrokers (Uganda) Limited following the closure of its operations in the country on June 30, 2022, while our real estate arm, Stanbic Properties continues to grow and has become a thought leader in the real estate industry.”
Mashanda added that, the subsidiaries had achieved operational synergy which is a significant step towards the strategic intent of making SUHL a digital platform services business delivering superior value to both shareholders and customers.
Stanbic Bank Chief Executive, Anne Juuko, said navigating the local and global environment has been so challenging for various sectors in the economy, including the banking sector.
“We resolved to focus on delivering products and solutions that are attuned to these extraordinary times, keeping the customer at the center of all we do, and being relevant in the community in which we serve,” she said, adding, “this focused mission has allowed us to genuinely partner with our customers in accelerating the recovery of the economy.”
Juuko said Stanbic managed to deliver acceptable value for both customers and shareholders, recording an 8.8% growth in customer deposits, from Shs5.7 trillion to Shs6.2trillion and an increase from Shs3.7 trillion to Shs3.8trillion in loans and advances to customers.
“Our performance reflects targeted positioning for the progressive recovery of the economy, balanced credit risk appetite, prudent cost management, and substantive investment in technology for innovation, notably Flexipay,” Juuko said.
The introduction of Flexipay was also the basis on which Stanbic recently gained recognition from the widely respected International Banker publication for the ‘Best Innovation in Retail Banking Award’.
Flexipay currently boasts over 275, 000 active wallets and 30, 000 merchants across the country. Juuko said, the Bank’s relentless focus on being relevant to its customers in the first half of the year provided a robust platform for sustained and accelerated growth in the second half of 2022.
Stanbic Bank operates on the mandate that ‘Uganda is our home, we drive her growth’ and the Bank plays a key role in supporting the country’s national development agenda, its executives say.
For instance, highlights from the latest results indicate lending to manufacturing reached Shs857 billion; agriculture, Shs323 billion and trade, Shs604 billion. Some 413 individuals and companies benefited from the training provided by Stanbic Business Incubator and its regional hubs.
Other key interventions
The Bank’s Back to School Boost Campaign launched at the start of the year was a timely intervention that helped over 2 000, 000 students to return to class.
“For instance, we wrote off nearly a Shs2billion in unpaid accrued interest rate income owed to us by schools for the period up to December 2021, this on account that they had been out of work for two years. This was a major relief as it allowed schools to start the year on a new slate,” said the Bank in its corporate citizenship report.
Through its Corporate Social Investment activities, Stanbic also directly supported 3000 pregnant mothers with Mama Kits donated through its “Every Mother Counts Maternal Health Campaign” in partnership with the Ministry of Health.
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