Across Africa’s rapidly urbanizing economies, housing remains one of the most persistent development challenges. Cities are expanding at a pace that continues to outstrip infrastructure and housing delivery. In this environment, Shelter Afrique Development Bank’s 2025 financial performance presents a…
At 45 years old, institutions are often expected to settle into maturity, to refine what they already are, not rethink what they could become. Yet Shelter Afrique Development Bank is doing the opposite. It is choosing reinvention. In Rabat, Morocco,…
In Owino Market in Kampala, a trader named Tendo does not visit a bank. He has never filled in a loan application form. He does not own land to offer as collateral. But last Tuesday, his phone buzzed with an…
NCBA Bank Uganda has reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening Uganda’s financial markets, positioning the sector as a critical enabler of the country’s economic transformation ambitions. The bank’s Global Markets Division participated in the ACI Financial Markets Authority (FMA) Uganda Dealers’…
For years, Uganda’s insurance sector was defined by one word: fragmentation. Dozens of insurers competed for relatively small market share in an industry where penetration remained among the lowest in Africa. Competition was abundant; scale was not. Many firms struggled…
In 2026, Uganda found itself celebrating two major export milestones, the country surpassed Ethiopia in monthly coffee export volumes, exporting 47,606 tonnes compared to Ethiopia’s 43,481 tonnes and reinforcing its growing position in global coffee markets. Around the same period,…
When Barclays exited Africa and became Absa, many dismissed it as a corporate restructuring exercise. When Citigroup began retreating from consumer banking operations across multiple markets, it was viewed as part of a broader global strategy. Now Standard Chartered has…
On a mining site in Buhweju, western Uganda, a small-scale miner sifts through soil with basic tools, hoping that the next pan will yield enough gold to cover rising food prices, school fees, and transport costs. The work is steady…
As Africa’s economies navigate intensifying global uncertainty, accelerating digital disruption, climate-linked financial pressures, and shifting geopolitical trade dynamics, central banks across East Africa are quietly moving toward deeper coordination. While still informal and evolving, this trajectory signals the early formation…
The transition in leadership at the Uganda Bankers Association comes at a pivotal moment for Uganda’s financial sector, defined by accelerating digital disruption, tightening macroeconomic conditions, rising credit risks, expanding regional integration, and the rapid emergence of artificial intelligence as…
Rwanda’s recent decision to formally regulate cryptocurrencies and virtual assets mayprove to be one of the most significant digital finance policy shifts East Africa hasseen in years. For a region long defined by caution, warnings, and regulatory uncertainty aroundcrypto-assets, Kigali’s…
For years, Centenary Bank stood almost alone as Uganda’s defining indigenous banking success story. It proved that a Ugandan-rooted financial institution could scale nationally, compete with multinational players, penetrate rural communities, mobilize grassroots savings, and earn the trust of millions.…
For years, Uganda’s banking industry has largely been defined by foreign-owned institutions, legacy perceptions, and an urban-centred approach to growth. Yet quietly, and perhaps more strategically than many realise, a different kind of story is beginning to emerge. The transition…
For years, Uganda’s banking sector has carried a familiar contradiction: strong profits, expanding balance sheets, rapid digital adoption, and rising deposits, alongside a quieter and more persistent limitation in its economic footprint. Banks have scaled. Financial systems have deepened. Transactions…
The banking sector in Uganda remains robust and highly resilient despite prevailing global economic volatility, according to Mr. Michael Atingi-Ego, Governor of the Bank of Uganda (BoU). Following an engagement this week with the Uganda Bankers’ Association (UBA), the Governor…