Standard Chartered Bank Uganda wins Best Bank in Uganda

20 September 2012, Kampala – Standard Chartered Bank Uganda has won the award for Best Bank in Uganda from EMEA Finance at this year’s Awards for Excellence for the 4th consecutive year.

The EMEA Finance Awards are given to banks which, through their client focus and steady management, continue to increase profits, deliver credit to the retail and wholesale markets, and support local and transnational corporations do business.

Chris Moore, the exporter EMEA Finance Limited Publisher and CEO congratulated Standard Chartered Bank Uganda Limited for winning this award for the 4th consecutive year, and for the bank’s outstanding performance in 2012.  “This is the fourth consecutive year that we have recognized Standard Chartered Bank Uganda in our African Banking Awards.

This is an impressive feat given the competitive and rapidly expanding nature of the banking sector in Uganda”, Moore said.
Commenting on the latest win for Standard Chartered, Herman Kasekende, Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered Bank Uganda said:

“I am delighted that Standard Chartered Uganda has won this prestigious award for the 4th consecutive year. Standard Chartered uniquely combines international expertise and capabilities with deep-rooted local experience, enabling us to deliver market-leading solutions to our customers in Uganda and across the world through our provision of world-class products and services.

Standard Chartered has made a huge contribution to the sustainable development of the business in Uganda since inception in August 1912, and this award is a great tribute to the hard work and dedication of the employees of Standard Chartered Bank as well as the support of all its stakeholders across the country as we celebrate 100 years of existence in Uganda”.

Mr Kasekende added that the Bank has continued to run its business basing on the fundamentals of banking which include superior customer service, vigilant risk monitoring and credit management, and efficient liquidity and capital management, although in a difficult and challenging operating environment.

Standard Chartered Bank has overall won the following African Banking Awards 2012:

·    Best foreign bank in Ghana
·    Best foreign bank in Kenya
·    Best foreign bank in Tanzania
·    Best bank in Uganda
·    Best foreign bank in Zimbabwe

Specific achievements that earned the Bank the accolade in Uganda included the following:

CONSUMER BANKING
Our Consumer Banking business performed well in 2011, despite the challenging economic environment.  Customers continue to be at the heart of our strategy and in 2011, we reaffirmed this commitment through continuously introducing new and improved products and services for both our personal and SME customer segments.

For Consumer Banking, 2011 significantly focused on SMEs as the engine for growth and this was reinforced by the launch of the new SME Customer Value Proposition in August, 2011 aimed at meeting four basic customer needs which include;

Business Expansion, Working Capital, Business Protection and Yield Enhancement. This was followed by the introduction of Borderless Banking between Kenya and Uganda, the Chinese RMB cross border trade settlement initiative and a special proposition for the Non Profit Organizations among others.

In addition to the focus on SMEs, we have demonstrated industry leadership in driving a savings culture in Uganda especially given the challenging macroeconomic environment.

We launched yet another deposit mobilization campaign ‘’Yoola Omudidi Campaign’’ in August aimed at rewarding loyalty and encouraging savings. 2011 marked the fourth year of the “Yoola Omudidi” campaign and I am glad to say that we were able to give away 3 brand new Toyota Hiluxes to 3 lucky customers. 

Furthermore, we reaffirmed our commitment to offering fast, friendly and accurate service with the launch of a service guarantee on our personal loans. With this service guarantee, we commit to process loans within 3 days or we pay Ugx 100,000.

This pledge will be followed by many more bold commitments aimed at transforming our business into a truly customer centric organization and giving our customers a reason to recommend Standard Chartered Bank to their friends, colleagues and relatives.

WHOLESALE BANKING
In 2011 Wholesale Banking made significant progress, overcoming a challenging economic and competitive environment to deliver a strong and solid performance by staying true to the strategy, focusing on client needs and maintaining discipline in management of the balance sheet.

Our brand promise “Here for good”, in so many ways captures the essence of what we do. Our unwavering focus on clients, enabled us to continue delivering strong results. Wholesale Banking deepened client relationship and became the core bank to a majority of our multi-banked clients. Client contributing income grew significantly, reflecting the trust and confidence our clients place in the Bank.

During the year, Wholesale Banking managed to offer hedging solutions to a majority of our core clients, which went a long way in mitigating the risks of a very volatile currency and interest rate environment.  This is testimony to the excellence of our client capabilities and solutions. It demonstrated a commitment and passion that enabled our clients cope with the harsh external environment challenges.

We increased our penetration with the Uganda local corporates and became the most important network bank for them, in Uganda. Our biggest differentiator in Wholesale Banking was the ability to manage the Bank’s Balance Sheet and risk, with a focus to diversifying our sources of liquidity, which enabled our Balance Sheet to remain open for business.

HUMAN  RESOURCES
Our people continue to be the source of our competitive strength.  We have continued to invest in staff training and development and ensuring a conducive working environment for our staff. 

Standard Chartered Bank was given the Bronze Winner Award in the Federation of Uganda Employers “Employer of the Year Awards” 2011, held under the theme:  Talent Management to Maximize Productivity.  This was recognition of the bank’s efforts in attracting and retaining the best talent in the market through the robust Human Resource processes and practices in the bank.

A number of Ugandans have been promoted to senior positions at the Group level in countries such as Kenya, Oman, Ghana, Singapore and this is a positive reflection on the quality of Ugandan talent within the bank.

CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
We are committed to making a positive contribution to the sustainable development of the communities in which we operate. The projects we engaged in during 2011 included:

·    In partnership with Sight savers, we restored sight to 1,455 blind people against a target of    1,000.  This investment will be scaled up in 2012 to USD 5m to include Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania over the next 5 years.

·    In partnership with Ecotrust we have continued to plant trees in all the regions of Uganda under the commitment we made in 2010 to invest UGS 460m over a period of 3 years.  Trees have been planted in Mbale, Manafwa, Mbarara, Gulu and Wakiso Districts.

·    Our staff have continued to engage in various Employee Volunteering initiatives, using their own time and resources and imparting skills. 

In recognition of our leadership role in the banking industry in Uganda, Standard Chartered Bank Uganda won the following prestigious awards:

·    Euromoney Best Bank in Uganda 2009 and 2010
·    EMEA finance Best Bank in Uganda 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012

We want to thank our customers for choosing to partner with us, and our staff for their continued engagement and dedication to delivering a superior customer service experience. We wish to thank Bank of Uganda for their guidance and support. 

Finally we want to thank all our stakeholders for their support in helping us contribute to the success and growth of the financial services industry in Uganda, as we proudly celebrate 100 years of uninterrupted service in Uganda.