Dfcu Bank, one of Uganda’s biggest lenders, has announced an internal promotion to oversee its commercial strategy, the latest change to its leadership team this year.
The company named Kate Kiiza, who has been its chief financial officer since 2015, as executive director, effective immediately. She replaces William Sekabembe, who stepped down last month after almost seven years in the role.
Mr Sekabembe is the third chief officer to leave the company this year. In January, the bank announced that its chief executive since December 2018, Mathias Katamba, was leaving at the end of the month and said Mr Sekabembe would fill the role on an interim basis. Dfcu didn’t provide a reason for Mr Katamba’s departure. In April, it announced that Charles Mwanyara Mudiwa, a Zambian banker, would replace Mr Katamba.
In another development, Hope Ekudu, who joined Dfcu as chief operating officer in August 2020, resigned in May. The bank has yet to announce a successor for the role.
The executive director, also known as chief commercial officer at the bank, is second only to the CEO in its executive hierarchy. They are “in charge of managing and directing the overall business growth of the bank, as well as providing strategic business leadership.” Winifred Tarinyeba-Kiryabwire, the bank’s non-executive chair, said they are “pleased to have a seasoned financial professional and dedicated female leader step into this role.”
Before joining Dfcu, Ms Kiiza was financial controller and chief financial officer at Shell Uganda Limited (now Vivo Energy), and chief financial officer at United Bank for Africa. She read economics at Makerere University, and is a fellow of the Association of Chartered and Certified Accountants and a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Uganda.
During Mr Katamba’s tenure as chief executive, the bank’s variable growth was hard to ignore, despite the troubled assets inherited from Crane Bank – Dfcu acquired the lender in January 2017 – and the effects of coronavirus lockdowns. Its financial performance fluctuated over the years, with periods of significant growth followed by periods of slower growth.
Dfcu continued to rely on interest income, which grew at a healthy clip between 2015 and 2017 before slowing down. It missed opportunities to diversify revenue streams and slacken the effects of low interest rates. Growth in fees and commissions income was inconsistent – increasing by 27.6 per cent in 2019, falling 22.3 per cent in 2020, before rebounding to 23 per cent in 2021, and then declining by 0.2 per cent in 2022.
The bank’s revenue growth and profitability also followed a similar oscillating path, indicating challenges in maintaining stable growth and effective risk management as large impairment charges drove up expenses in 2021 and 2020.
