PostBank elevated to tier one commercial bank

Bank of Uganda has issued PostBank a license to operate as a tier one commercial bank.

Based on the Financial Institutions Act (2004) definition of a commercial bank, PostBank shall no longer be categorised as a credit institution but as a deposit taking financial institution that gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make profit.

A commercial bank is allowed to offer the following services:

• Acceptance of call, demand, savings, and time deposits withdrawable by cheque or otherwise
• Provision of overdrafts and short to medium term loans
• Provision of foreign exchange facilities; Acceptance and discounting of bills of exchange
• Provision of financial and investment advice
• Participation in inter-bank clearing systems
• Give guarantees, bonds or other forms of collateral, and accept and place third party drafts and promissory notes connected with operations in which they take part

With the new management’s goal to strengthen the Post Bank’s foundation, efforts have been put into digital transformations that will improve customer experience.

With these changes at the bank, it was inevitable that the institution would optimise its potential and ably compete with the aggressive privately owned financial institutions.

"What we have been doing is building the foundation- a solid foundation, because with a very solid foundation, you can do so many things including competitiveness and growth," the managing director of Post Bank, Julius Kakeeto, said.

A rigorous restructuring process gave the institution competitive edge with a new board of directors and several top-class bankers joining senior management and were able to make a net profit of Shs 10 billion which is the highest in the Bank’s history.

This makes PostBank one of the exemplary government agencies.

The bank said it owes this milestone to its customers, staff, the shareholders and all the external stakeholders who have supported this journey.