Former Fina Bank branch in Bugolobi Industrial area, which has now been re-branded to GTBank
Nigerian Financial Giant, Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) that acquired major shares in Fina Bank Uganda on Monday announced its official commencement of business in Uganda.
The development was revealed during a press briefing that was held at Serena Hotel in Kampala, where Segun Agbaje the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director of GTBank Plc, noted that there was a service gap in Uganda’s banking sector, which the other players haven’t filled that GTBank wants to capitalize on to help transform and impact on lives of Ugandans.
“We believe there is nothing new we can promise people in Uganda, but we realized that there is a service gap that the other players on the market some though having been here for decades haven’t met. It’s that gap we intend to capitalize on in order to transform lives of Ugandans” said Agbaje.
Information obtained by Red Pepper indicates that GTBank in January-2014, acquired 70% shares in Fina Bank Group at USD 100Millions that is approximately Shs. 250Billions. The acquisition makes Uganda the 10th country in both Africa and United Kingdom.
However, Fina Bank is the first bank to be acquired by GTBank a development that means that all the former branches in Uganda, Rwanda and Kenya will cease to be Fina Bank but have rather been rebranded to GTBank in their respective countries.
Agbaje defended the acquisition of a smaller financial institution like Fina Bank noting that it was critical in the integration process of both the human and technological capital. And this he believes was a step in the right direction towards saving GTBank from the hustle of acquiring a new operations license from Bank of Uganda.
On top of that, Agbaje also added that there was no better time and partner for the Financial giants to enter the East African market specifically Uganda given the fact that the region has turned out to be an economic region let alone with remarkable economic potentials.
Agbaje said, “The acquisition of Fina Bank operationsin the region makes “strategic sense” for both the customers and shareholders. Fina Bank has over the years built an envisable banking institution in East Africa; our combined strengths will help us build an attractive portfolio of leading products, services and marketing capabilities. We can now deepen existing and future customer relationships with differeciated capabilities to exceed customer expectations and grow market share.
Ramesh Babu, the Chairman of Fina Bank Group Uganda assured that the already 40,000 existing customers of Fina Bank should be guaranteed of better and improved service delivery from their new partners and this will come in hand with efficiency and continuous innovation.
Babu said, “We are delighted to partner with an extremely successful African Bank, and with whom we share a common philosophy on integrity, governance and transparency. This we hope will be done in order to leverage our respective strengths in order to create a winning combination for our stakeholders.”
By Prisca Wanyenya