Uganda Bankers' Association - UBA

Uganda Bankers' Association - UBA Uganda Bankers Association, est. 1981 is an umbrella organisation for Commercial Banks licensed and supervised by Bank of Uganda.

Uganda Bankers’ Association is the umbrella body for 34 licensed financial institutions regulated by the Bank of Uganda. |

FINANCING THE TENFOLD GDP GROWTH STRATEGY!The Uganda Bankers' Association (UBA) delegation led by our Vice Chairperson, ...
26/08/2026

FINANCING THE TENFOLD GDP GROWTH STRATEGY!

The Uganda Bankers' Association (UBA) delegation led by our Vice Chairperson, Ms. Grace Muliisa, Managing Director of Ecobank Uganda, met with the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Hon. Henry Musasizi, and the Governor of the Bank of Uganda, Dr. Michael Atingi-Ego.

Convened at the Ministry, the meeting focused on banking sector support for the Government's tenfold GDP growth strategy. UBA presented the industry's comprehensive response and reaffirmed the sector's readiness to play a central role in Uganda's economic transformation, including a commitment to raise up to UGX 490 trillion in private sector credit by 2040.

Discussions centred on strengthening the partnership model needed to unlock financing for the ATMS sectors, covering Agro Industrialisation, Tourism, Minerals and Science, Technology and Innovation. Both parties committed to deepening dialogue on fiscal and regulatory matters to create an enabling environment for sustainable growth.

The Minister welcomed the sector's proactive approach and underscored the value of an open and transparent partnership, setting the tone for continued collaboration as Uganda pursues its ambition of becoming a USD 500 billion economy by 2040.

The banking sector remains committed to supporting Uganda's development aspirations.

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Our Executive Director, Mr. Wilbrod Owor, recently hosted Mr. Zerubabel Kwebiiha Junior, Chief Executive Officer of Fina...
26/08/2026

Our Executive Director, Mr. Wilbrod Owor, recently hosted Mr. Zerubabel Kwebiiha Junior, Chief Executive Officer of Financial Sector Deepening Uganda ( Uganda), at the UBA offices.

Mr. Wilbrod welcomed Mr. Kwebiiha and congratulated him on his appointment.

Their discussions centred on three strategic priorities:

 Strengthening collaboration between UBA and FSD Uganda.
 Enhancing research, policy engagement and advocacy for inclusive sector development.
 Supporting Uganda's tenfold growth strategy, with a focus on the ATMS sectors of Agro-Industrialization, Tourism, Minerals including Oil and Gas, and Science, Technology and Innovation, alongside key enabling sectors.

We look forward to a continued and impactful partnership with FSD Uganda under his leadership as we work together to advance financial inclusion and economic growth.

Welcome aboard, Zerubabel! 🇺🇬

Africa accounts for less than 1% of the global green bond market, now worth over USD 2.2 trillion.The two-day Technical ...
25/08/2026

Africa accounts for less than 1% of the global green bond market, now worth over USD 2.2 trillion.

The two-day Technical Capacity Building Workshop on Sustainable Finance and Green Bond Market Development, which opened at Serena Hotel Kigo today, 25th August 2026, is part of how Uganda intends to change that, bringing together member financial institutions, pension funds, insurance companies, capital market intermediaries and regulators.

Over the two days, participants will validate Uganda's draft Sovereign Sustainable Finance Framework, the groundwork for the country's inaugural Sovereign Green Bond being prepared by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and the Bank of Uganda with support from the Global Green Growth Institute.

Welcoming participants, our Executive Director, Mr. Wilbrod Humphreys Owor, broadened what the sector should understand by capital, and was candid about where the industry still falls short.

"Capital is not only money or finances. It includes skills, knowledge, practices, information, markets and the infrastructure to support this. As the banking sector, we inaugurated an industry ESG framework in 2024, and with guidance from our regulator, Bank of Uganda, we are adopting the IFRS S1 and S2 sustainability disclosure standards and continue to strengthen climate risk modelling and stress testing capabilities. Despite all this, member-supervised financial institutions face limited hands-on technical capacity, tools and playbooks. These roles require more than awareness. They require practical institutional capacity."

The admission is a useful one. The commitments are in place across the sector, from the industry ESG framework to the Bank of Uganda's Climate-Related Financial Risk Management Guidelines, but the working knowledge to act on them, from reading taxonomies to assessing eligible projects and reporting credibly, is still being built.

Mr. Wilbrod was equally clear that this cannot be carried by any one party. Banks working alone, using traditional funding models, will not deliver transformation at this scale, which is why the room brought the whole financial ecosystem together rather than lenders alone.

His closing challenge to members was to treat the two days as a working session rather than a training, and to leave knowing what the Framework requires of their institutions and what must change internally to act on it.

Delivered with technical support from the Global Green Growth Institute and funding from the European Union and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, under the leadership of the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and the Bank of Uganda.

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Uganda's economic growth strengthened significantly in the second quarter of FY2025/26.According to the Bank of Uganda, ...
24/08/2026

Uganda's economic growth strengthened significantly in the second quarter of FY2025/26.

According to the Bank of Uganda, GDP expanded by 8.5%, up from 4.8% in the first quarter of FY2025/26, with growth recorded across the economy and industry making the strongest contribution.

Stronger economic activity creates opportunities for business expansion, employment and increased demand for financial services.

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On Day Two of the 2nd Annual Research Conference, every supervised financial institution in Uganda received a clear dire...
23/08/2026

On Day Two of the 2nd Annual Research Conference, every supervised financial institution in Uganda received a clear directive.

The Governor of the Bank of Uganda, Dr. Michael Atingi-Ego, confirmed that banks will be required to submit Board approved strategies demonstrating how their business models and risk appetites will evolve to support the tenfold growth agenda. Those submissions will in turn help shape the regulatory environment the sector operates in.

The requirement carries real weight. Each institution will need to state, at Board level, how it intends to participate in taking private sector credit from just under UGX 30 trillion today to beyond UGX 490 trillion by 2040, and credit to GDP from 12.4% toward 50%.

On what this demands of the industry, the Governor was unequivocal.

"Our task is not risk avoidance, but risk mastery. Institutions that succeed will build strong risk governance, robust balance sheets, deep analytical capability and the confidence to finance long-term economic transformation."

For financial institutions, that translates into concrete work, meaning stronger balance sheets, deeper analytical capability, and risk governance built to carry considerably heavier books than most hold today.

The Governor further addressed a long-standing concern within the sector. Capital locked in prolonged commercial disputes cannot be lent or invested, making the pace of dispute resolution as much a financial sector issue as a judicial one.

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Women-owned businesses remain one of the most underserved segments in Uganda's financial market, despite being among the...
21/08/2026

Women-owned businesses remain one of the most underserved segments in Uganda's financial market, despite being among the most commercially promising.

As a national coordinator of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance (WE-Fi) Code in Uganda, the Uganda Bankers' Association invites financial service providers to the upcoming Women's Markets Playbook Training, an intensive two and a half day programme to be delivered by the Financial Alliance for Women, focusing on strategy design for Women Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (WMSMEs).

Participants will gain the practical tools, frameworks and global best practices needed to design and implement a commercially viable, data-driven Women's Markets Strategy in their own institutions.

📅 Wednesday 26th to Friday 28th August 2026
📍 Kampala, Uganda

The training is delivered in partnership with the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU), the Financial Alliance for Women, the Association of Microfinance Institutions of Uganda (AMFIU), the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development and the Bank of Uganda, with support from the World Bank and the GROW Project.

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Uganda's private sector credit currently stands at approximately 12.4% of GDP, among the lowest ratios in East Africa. O...
20/08/2026

Uganda's private sector credit currently stands at approximately 12.4% of GDP, among the lowest ratios in East Africa. Only 70,010 registered entities access credit from banks, against the 437,000 needed to absorb the credit levels our tenfold growth ambition requires.

These were the figures our Executive Director, Mr. Wilbrod Humphreys Owor, presented as the 2nd Annual Research Conference opened today, Thursday 20th August 2026, at Protea Hotel Kampala, hosted in partnership with the Uganda Institute of Banking and Financial Services (UIBFS) and Makerere University's College of Business and Management Sciences (CoBAMS).

In his opening remarks, he framed the scale of what the sector has committed to, which is expanding private sector credit from roughly UGX 26 trillion today to UGX 490 trillion by 2040, in line with the national ambition to grow Uganda's economy from USD 50 billion to USD 500 billion.

But he was clear that the challenge runs deeper than volume.

"Many Medium Enterprises, the segment best equipped to absorb productive credit at scale, remain a narrow slice of the market. Our challenge is not merely to expand credit, but to expand the universe of bankable entities itself."

That reframing sets the agenda. Collateral valuation, dispute resolution, movable assets tracking, and data quality and reliability are not minor issues. Each one is a research question creating a barrier standing between the banking sector and the growth it has committed to deliver.

He closed with a direct call to the researchers and scholars in the room.

"We need research that tests our industry assumptions, stress tests our reform proposals, and equips us with the hard data required to design, scale, and diversify the financial solutions we bring to policymakers."

Day One runs under the theme "Navigating Credit Risk in the Digital Transformation Era," with sessions on artificial intelligence in credit scoring, alternative data credit systems, fraud and hidden non-performing loans, embedding ESG into credit risk models, and climate risk assessment.

Evidence. Insight. Impact!

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Day Two of our ESG, WASH Risk Management, and Sustainable Finance training for credit officers, risk managers, and ESG c...
20/08/2026

Day Two of our ESG, WASH Risk Management, and Sustainable Finance training for credit officers, risk managers, and ESG champions from across Uganda's banking industry took place on 19th August 2026. The training is delivered in partnership with Water For People Uganda and the Ministry of Water and Enviroment, funded by the Sanitation and Hygiene Fund (SHF).

The sessions covered identifying and assessing ESG and WASH risks through screening, due diligence and financial impact, before moving into how those considerations are integrated into credit decisions, from credit assessment and environmental and social risk management through to the conditions and covenants that end up in the facility letter. Participants also applied this to a live borrower scenario, working in groups to identify the material risks and agree on a credit recommendation.

But the bigger conversation was about opportunity. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) financing needs cut across agriculture, healthcare, education, real estate, hospitality and utilities, spanning asset finance, working capital and expansion. From water utilities to MSMEs and households, the customer base is broad, and the market is scalable.

What makes it more attractive still is that many WASH projects are supported through blended finance, including public guarantees, concessional capital and technical assistance. This improves bankability by aligning investment risk with social and environmental returns.

The closing session focused on measurement. Indicators such as WASH portfolio exposure, access to safe drinking water, sanitation coverage and climate resilience allow institutions to manage risk while demonstrating real impact.

As one participant put it, unless WASH is written into credit policy, it will not be consistently managed. The evidence supports that view; repayment rates on WASH projects already financed by banks have reached as high as 99%, suggesting the perceived risk is greater than the actual one.

The Uganda Bankers' Association calls on the financial sector to view integration of ESG and WASH considerations as a strategic move that aligns with Uganda's development goals while offering substantial financial returns. The opportunity is now!

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We kicked off a two-day training today, 18th August 2026, for credit officers, risk managers, and ESG champions from acr...
18/08/2026

We kicked off a two-day training today, 18th August 2026, for credit officers, risk managers, and ESG champions from across Uganda's banking industry, focused on ESG, WASH Risk Management, and Sustainable Finance. The training is delivered in partnership with Water For People Uganda and funded by the Sanitation and Hygiene Fund (SHF).

Day One laid the foundation, opening with what Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) is and why it matters to financial institutions, before moving into ESG and WASH risks and their financial relevance.

The market data set the tone for the day. Uganda's WASH economy was worth USD 1.7 billion in 2022 and is on track to reach USD 2.7 billion by 2030. Yet sanitation alone still carries a financing gap of between USD 650 and 725 million a year.

Much of the discussion focused on what this means for lenders. Water stress disrupts a borrower's operations, which strains cash flow, which in turn affects their ability to repay. Sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, health, infrastructure and SMEs are especially exposed, making WASH a material credit consideration rather than simply an Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) reporting requirement.

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Evidence. Insight. Impact!The 2nd Annual Banking and Financial Services Research Conference 2026 will take place this we...
18/08/2026

Evidence. Insight. Impact!

The 2nd Annual Banking and Financial Services Research Conference 2026 will take place this week over two days, bringing together over 200 industry leaders, regulators, researchers, academics and technology experts for conversations shaping the future of Uganda's financial sector.

The agenda will constitute discussions on credit risk, artificial intelligence, digital transformation, and the research driving Uganda's economic tenfold growth.

📅 Thursday 20th and Friday 21st August 2026
📍 Protea Hotel Kampala
🎟 Professionals: UGX 500,000 | PhD and Master's Students: UGX 250,000

Hosted in partnership with the Uganda Institute of Banking and Financial Services (UIBFS).

Register today: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/R3TqchZRdj

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Address

Atom Leadership Centre, Plot 2702, Block 244 Nyangweso Road, Kironde Road, Tankhill Muyenga
Kampala
256

Opening Hours

Monday 08:00 - 17:00
Tuesday 08:00 - 17:00
Wednesday 08:00 - 17:00
Thursday 08:00 - 17:00
Friday 08:00 - 17:00

Telephone

+256414431199

Website

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