Bankers distance themselves from mobile money tax, say it is detrimental to finance sector

The Executive Director of the Uganda Bankers Association Wilbrod Owori has said that the banking sector is not behind the newly effected mobile money tax. Owori was speaking at a press conference ahead of the annual bankers’ conference.

Owori said, “We need to understand that the banking sector is not at war with mobile money because telecommunication companies are our partners. Each mobile money wallet has a mirror account in the bank and we are working closely with them. We like mobile money.”

Owori cautioned “Taxes risk reversing the gains we have made in financial inclusion.”

Patrick Mweheire, Chief Executive Officer Stanbic Uganda said that this year’s conference is going to be about how they can bring down the costs in the Ugandan banking sector.

Mweheire said “the Banking Conference is a key part of what we do. It is a platform where discuss on how we move our sector forward"

During the press conference, Wilbrod Owori was flanked by other association officials that included the Stanbic Bank ED Patrick Mweheire and Patricia Amito Lutwama, the Association’s head for communications & corporate affairs among others.

Amito Lutwama noted that this year’s conference is a follow up of last year’s discussion on the future of Banking.

According to Owori, “This is a good time to discuss the issues we are having in our banking sector and this conference will be rich with speakers from different spaces like legal, payments and many others to discuss these changes happening in this sector.”

The one-day conference will be held on Tuesday, 17th July 2018 at the Kampala Serena Hotel, Victoria Hall, under the theme Financial Sector Stability: Managing Risk in a Growing and Fast-Changing Environment. The conference will comprise two keynote addresses followed by two detailed thematic panel sessions.