More local banks continue to show mixed results as losses are and declines are recorded

By George Mangula

More commercial banks in Uganda continue to post different results as each of them publish the summary of their annual financial statements to the end of December 31, 2019. The posting of the financial statements is a requirement by their regulator, Bank of Uganda (BOU).

The yearly financial statements show the strength and weaknesses of each bank’s different business portfolios but the amalgamation of all the annual financial statements from the banks should still measure the strength and weakness of the entire banking industry in Uganda each year, financial analysts say.

According to the summary of its financial statements, Absa Bank Uganda, formally Barclays Bank Uganda, posted a slight decline in pretax profit as it earned Shs97.846 billion in 2019 compared to Shs97.849 billion in 2018. But it grew its total assets to Shs3.4 trillion in 2019 from Shs2.8 trillion in 2018.

The bank’s cash and balances with BOU performed well as it jumped to Shs711.5 billion in 2019 from Shs420.8 billion in 2018. Customer deposits reached Shs2.2 trillion compared to Shs1.8 trillion in 2018.

The bank’s loans and advances were Shs1.3 trillion in 2019 compared to Shs1.2 trillion in 2018. However its Non-performing loans and advances did not do well as they climbed to Shs109.9 billion in 2019 from Shs91.4 billion in 2018. The bank wrote off Shs10.5 billion as bad debts in 2019, lower than Shs18.8 billion foregone in 2018.

The bank has slightly cut its prime lending rate to 17.75 percent from Shs18.75 percent to attract more borrowers.

Brac Uganda Bank Limited

Financials show Brac Uganda Bank had a drop in gross profit as it posted Shs15.7 billion as of December 31, 2019 compared to Shs24.5 billion in 2018. However, the value of its total assets rose to Shs259.3 billion in 2019 from Shs243.4 billion in 2018. Customers’ deposits were Shs53 billion in 2019 compared to Shs32 billion in 2018. Loans and advances improved in 2019 to Shs187.9 billion from Shs176.9 billion in 2018. But Non-performing loans and other assets rose to Shs5.78 billion from Shs5.77 billion in 2018 while bad debts written off were Shs4.4 billion in 2019 compared to Shs2.6 billion in 2019.

Orient bank

The 2019 financials for Orient Bank indicate it realised a rise in pretax profit as it earned Shs9.6 billion compared to Shs7.9 billion it raised as of December 31, 2018. Customers’ deposits slightly went down to Shs673.5 billion in 2019 as opposed to Shs673.6 billion in 2018. Its cash and balances with BOU were 229.3 billion, up from Shs163.3 billion in 2018.

The bank’s total assets were recorded at Shs814.3 billion in 2019, an increase when compared to Shs749.5 billion in 2018.

The loans and advances curve moved down to Shs305.5 billion in 2019 from Shs334 billion in 2018. But there was a steep jump in the Non-performing loans and other assets in 2019 as the bank recorded Shs60 billion, from the low of Shs14.8 billion in 2018. Bad debts written off rose to Shs11.3 billion from Shs7.8 billion in 2018.

ABC Capital Bank Limited

According to its financial statements for the year ending December 31, 2019, ABC Capital Bank performed poorly on major fronts. For instance, it joined the list of other banks that saw a decline in gross profit as it earned Shs328.6 billion compared to about Shs404 billion it got in 2018.

Its cash and balances with BOU declined to Shs4 billion in 2019 from Shs5.9 billion in 2018. The bank had customers’ deposits decline to Shs24.3 billion from about Shs30 billion received in 2018. It also had its total assets drop to Shs58.9 billion from Shs61.7 billion in 2018.

Loans and advances also reduced as it gave out Shs18.6 billion in 2019 compared to Shs19.6 billion. Non-performing loans and other assets rose to Shs1.7 billion from about Shs615 million in 2018. Whereas bad debts written off were not recorded both in 2019 and 2018.

Top Finance Bank Limited.

Top Finance Bank made a loss of Shs3.3 billion in 2019, compared to the loss of Shs2 billion in 2018. Its total assets declined in 2019 to Shs23.6 billion from Shs24.4 billion in 2018. Customer deposits declined to Shs17.7 billion in 2019 compared to Shs20.1 billion in 2018.

The bank’s loans and advances mildly rose to Shs14.4 billion in 2019 from about Shs14 billion in 2018. Non-performing loans rose sharply to Shs2 billion in 2019 from Shs227.5 million in 2018. Bad debts written off by the bank were Shs227.7 billion in 2019 compared to Shs126.6 million in 2018.