Crane opens Naalya branch as competition in banks shoots up

By Patrick Jaramogi
Crane Bank is getting closer to clients as competition in the banking sector reaches fever peak. The Bank’s clientele continued to grow with latest figures shooting up to over 500,000 with the opening of the bank’s 20th branch at Naalya Shoprite over the weekend.

A.R Kalan, the banks’ managing director told New Vision that the bank was gearing towards taking services closer to residential areas as a means of capturing and attracting more customers.

“This is going to serve as a fully- fledged commercial bank. Families that come for shopping will utilize the moment to also engage in banking within the shopping facility,” he said at the ceremony to mark the official opening of the branch on Saturday.  

Kalan said the Naalya Shoprite branch is part of the five new Crane Bank branches to be opened across the country in August. The bank has earmarked funds for opening 25 country branches at the close of this year.

The banks’ branch manager Edith Mutabaruka said the bank would serve all Crane bank account holders, irrespective of where they opened their accounts.

The banks’ after tax profits grew 61% to sh51.6b in 2010 up from sh32.05b a year before largely due to growth in loans and advances with a huge reduction in default rates.

Uganda currently has over 23 licensed commercial banks with only 3 million bank accounts representing 10% of the total population according to Finscope surveys.