Bank of Uganda has cleared the merger of two out-of-Nairobi banks- NC Bank Uganda and Commercial Bank of Africa. The two as per 2019 results were the 19th and 21st largest banks by assets respectively and the merger will pave way for Uganda’s 15th largest bank- out of 25 licensed banks.
The merged entity will also control well over UGX281 billion in lending and UGX370 billion in customer deposits- roughly 2% market share.
CBA entered Uganda in 2014, while NC Bank received a commercial banking license from the Bank of Uganda in April 2012 and opened for business in May 2012.
In a joint statement issued by the two bank’s CEOs- Sam Ntulume, Managing Director NC Bank and Anthony Ndegwa CEO, CBA, the duo said that BoU had issued a letter of no objection, creating “1 formidable bank with, an asset base of UGX548 billion, as at March 31st 2020.
“This new entity will be the coming together of NC Bank and CBA and is just the beginning of the fusion of the two banks. Soon we shall be announcing the brand, which is a reflection of both banks values, borrowing from the best of both and building new strengths to deliver better banking experience for our customers and set new standards for the industry,” read the statement.
“We are now on the final leg of becoming one bank,” added the statement.
The proposed merger was first announced by the respective Boards of NC Bank and CBA in Kenya on 6th December 2018. In April 2019, shareholders of both banks approved the merger and in September 2019, the Central Bank of Kenya and the National Treasury approved the merger of NIC Group PLC and Commercial Bank of Africa Limited (CBA), paving way for the creation of Kenya’s 3rd largest bank by assets.
The new merged Group was called NCBA Group PLC and the Kenya operating bank will be known as NCBA Bank Kenya PLC. The approval was published in the Kenya Gazette of Friday, 27th September 2019 and the union took effect on Monday, 30th September 2019.
Isaac Awuondo, CBA Group’s then Managing Director, became the Chairman of NCBA Bank Kenya PLC while John Gachora, NIC Group’s Managing Director became NCBA Group Managing Director.
NCBA Uganda merger to be complete by September 2020
According to the media statement, Sam Ntulume, NC Bank Uganda’s Managing Director said, that considerable progress towards readiness for Day 1 of the merged bank, likely to be called NCBA Bank Uganda, had been made.
CEO East Africa understands that a name, NCBA Bank Uganda Limited has been reserved at the Uganda Registration Services Bureau, Uganda’s company register.
“Our plan is to finalise the harmonisation of our systems so that all our customers can enjoy seamless services across our channels in Uganda. Our customers shall be advised once this is completed. Our ambition is that by end of quarter 3 2020, all NCBA customers will experience seamless service levels’,” said Ntulume.
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Following the merger, the bank will have to make a hard decision of who amongst the two CEOs- Sam Ntulume and Anthony Ndegwa will become the head of the institution.
Both gentlemen have formidable experiences.
Anthony Ndegwa was appointed the CEO of Commercial Bank of Africa (Uganda) Limited in May 2018. Anthony has worked for about 30 years in various profit and non-profit institutions, mainly in accounting and banking functions. In the banking sector, Anthony has worked for First American Bank, Credit Agricole Indosuez, Citibank (in Kenya and Uganda), Standard Chartered Bank and Bank of Africa. The senior roles that Anthony has held in banking, include Head of Corporate and Investment Banking at Citibank, Director Corporate Banking at Citibank Uganda Limited, East Africa Transactional Banking Sales Head of Global Corporates, at Standard Chartered Bank and most recently Head of Enterprise Centers at Bank of Africa.
Anthony is a Certified Public Accountant of Kenya (CPAK), a holder of an MBA from Herriot-Watt University – Edinburgh Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from United States International University.
Sam Ntulume, is not your usual outspoken bank CEO, but behind the composed demeanour lies a banking professional with over 15 years’ banking experience at senior levels and some good results under his hand.
Ntulume, has been the Managing Director of NC Bank Uganda, for now four years, since July 2016. Before that, he was the bank’s Executive Director since May 2012, when NC Bank entered Uganda from Nairobi where it is headquartered.
In the slightly over three years he has led NC Bank, customer deposits have nearly doubled from UGX98.7 billion in 2016 to UGX189.7 billion at the end of 2019. With growing deposits lending has also blossomed by 42% from UGX98.7 billion to UGX140 billion, partly driving a 42.6% growth in assets, from UGX203.4 billion to UGX290 billion in the same period.
Before NC Bank, Ntulume was the Financial Controller at Stanbic Bank Uganda for 4 years and Head of Finance at CFC Stanbic Bank Kenya amongst senior roles in the banking industry.
He holds an MBA from ESAMI and is an ACCA Fellow
It is also yet to be clear, who amongst William Muhairwe (CBA Bank Board Chairman) and city Lawyer Timothy Masembe, NC Bank Chairman will head the new entity. But whoever the board chairman of the new entity is, they will also have to make the hard choice of choosing, who between Gerald Muhereza the Executive Director and Head of Business for CBA since August 2018 and Mark Muyobo the NC Bank Executive Director, will now become the Executive Director of the merged entity.
