[1] The East African Development Bank (EADB), established in 1967, was jointly owned by Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania.
[1] The Uganda government took majority shares in all commercial banks in 1969 as part of President Obote's "Move to the Left" policy.
This was increased to 100 percent control when European and Asian business owners were expelled in 1972-75 under President Idi Amin.
The Uganda Commercial Bank (UCB) was initially privatized through a sale of its majority shares to a purported company from Malaysia.
It later became public, however, that the actual buyer was a partnership between Greenland Bank, which was insolvent at the time, and politically connected individuals.
A second privatization sale was conducted, with the Standard Bank of South Africa emerging as the winner.
As of December 2009, total commercial bank assets in Uganda were estimated at USh 8.73 trillion.
[14] According to a study published in 2010, most of the banking activity was concentrated around Kampala, the country's capital, and other large towns, leaving 42 percent of Ugandans dependent on the informal financial sector and another 30 percent totally excluded from the financial services sector.
[16] During 2012, the BoU closed the National Bank of Commerce (Uganda) (NBCU), a small indigenous operation with wealthy investors, some of whom held high-ranking government positions.
[19] In June 2013, the BoU estimated the total of all commercial bank assets in the country at USh 15.7 trillion.
At that time, the Deposit Protection Fund had assets valued at USh 689 billion (US$190 million).
[26] As of December 2022[update], total assets in Uganda's banking institutions were valued at USh45.44 trillion (approx.
[27] As of 30 June 2023, as reported by the Daily Monitor, total banking assets in Uganda were USh48.3 trillion (approx.
[28] This class includes commercial banks that are authorized to hold checking, savings, and time deposit accounts for individuals and institutions in local and international currencies.
Commercial banks are also authorized to buy and sell foreign exchange, issue letters of credit, and make loans to depositors and non-depositors.
[31] The MDIs in the country as of 14 December 2024 were:[37] These institutions are regulated by the Uganda Microfinance Regulatory Authority (UMRA).
[47] In addition to its traditional credit bureau services, Compuscan CRB introduced and maintained the biometric identity smart card system used in the Ugandan financial industry.