By Our Reporters
If you thought MPs and other categories of politicians earn the highest monthly pay in Uganda, just read this. There is a category called bank Managing Directors and Executive Directors (all of them UBA members) who earn a lot more to the extent that (in comparison), your MPs earn just peanuts.
The highest earning MD is Stanbic Bank’s Patrick Mweheire whose monthly pay is Shs131,830,596 which annually comes to Shs1,581,967,152.
The first Ugandan MD at Stanbic, Mweheire affordably deserves this pay because his institution is the industry’s largest in many respects. Stanbic is very large majorly because it inherited the UCB clientele, network and infrastructure. It’s also true they cash in being the bankers for all the commercial entities from South Africa. These include Eskom (in energy), South African Airways, MTN Uganda and others.
BANK OF BARODA
A well-illustrated report in a business publication called CEO East Africa shows that struggling Bank of Baroda (which sometime back faced sanctions by NSSF for failing to meet its statutory obligations) has the least paid MD (Ashwini Kumar) and CEO (Manoj Kumar Bakshi) respectively earning Shs14.4m and Shs13.5m per month.
UHURU’S CBA BANK
Equally intriguing is the story of Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA) whose MD Anthony Ndegwa earns over Shs65m per month and over Shs782m annually inspite of the fact that CBA is struggling and shareholders are pondering exiting the Ugandan market. The CBA project flopped partly because their ill-conceived market penetration strategy failed. They targeted the upper market thinking they would tap into the multiple Kenyan businesses operating here but this didn’t work largely because as of 2013 when they first came here, KCB and Equity (equally Kenyan) had galvanized themselves too deeply. The shareholders are now pondering quitting or merging with equally struggling NCB Bank. That notwithstanding, Executive Director Gerald Muhereza continues to earn his cool Shs27m per month.
THE NC BANK
It’s equally struggling having been rejected by the market but their MD Sam Ntulume continues to earn a decent Shs 44.7m per month with his Executive Director Mark Anthony Muyobo bagging over Shs28.5m.
STAN CHART
This is another equally very large bank because it monopolizes large institutional banking clients just like Stanbic. It deliberately has very few branches yet it has a large market share. Its MD Albert Saltson monthly earns Shs105,234,882 annually translating into over Shs1.2bn. He has two EDs namely Keval Bid and Kelvin Musana who respectively earn Shs54.6m and Shs76m per month.
CERUDEB
The Catholic Church-owned Centenary Bank is shepherded by Fabian Kasi as MD and Simon Kagugube as Executive Director. The much revered Kasi earns over Shs89m with his ED Kagugube bagging Shs83.7m.
BARCLAYS BANK
The MD is an Indian called Rakesh Jha and the ED is Micheal Sewaya. They respectively Shs149.6m and Shs40.2m, reflecting a huge salary disparity that has always been a cause of uneaseness among Sewaya’s fellow natives at Barclays bank (in the BoD and among staff).
DTB UGANDA
At Aga Khan’s Diamond Trust Bank, the MD is Varghese Thambi (soon retiring) and the ED is Kariuki Maina. They respectively earn Shs90.3m & Shs33.7m monthly. DTB makes huge sums of money through operating collection accounts for several entities for which they serve as collection agents.
DFCU BANK
The MD for this much Sudhir-tormented bank is Mathias Katamba (who previously was the boss for Housing Finance Bank from where he was wooed to replace legendary Juma Kissami). The Executive Director is the equally much-tormented William Sekabembe. They respectively earn Shs103.8m and Shs59.2m per month. This annually translates into Shs1,245,913,800 for Katamba and Shs711,241,392 for ED Sekabembe.
KCB BANK
The MD here is Edgar Byamah whose monthly pay is Shs35.5m inspite of the fact that he is holding the position in acting capacity. He has no ED largely because the bank is still stabilizing from the purge of last year when majority of the top managers from Kenya were recalled back home following chaos that resulted from the stringent measures that URA took against the otherwise very ambitious Kenyan financial institution.
Briefly this is what happened: a group of shrewd city lawyers, working with rogue-minded actors at KCB, secured a curious court order against the Attorney General. Deriving from the same court order, they drew up a garnish order dubiously permitting them to attach government money from any commercial bank where URA (which ironically wasn’t party to the proceedings) operates collection account. They zeroed in on KCB because someone inside the bank was willing to play ball.
They garnished the URA collection account in KCB and took away all the money that had been collected on behalf of government (URA) in the preceding 24 hours. It was colossal sums of money and State House got to know. Sources say (on getting an intelligence brief) the President was very bitter and rang Finance Minister Matia Kasaijja who got in touch with URA demanding tough action against KCB. That is how the URA management shut them off its collection platform and for a while, those paying URA fees couldn’t use KCB.
By God’s grace management managed to suppress the scandal and it never spilled into the media but enough damage or dent had been caused regarding the way URA perceived KCB as their collection agent. To re-assure URA that the matter hadn’t been taken lightly and wouldn’t happen again, headquarters in Nairobi cracked the whip by recalling many of the guys who were in top executive positions paving way for Edgar Byamah to become the Ag MD. Mulengera news last week reached out to Edgar Byamah for clarification on this issue but the Ag. MD was elusive throughout. He never took calls. Neither did he reply to our questions sent via his whatsapp line.
CITIBANK UGANDA
This American-owned Bank is a major player in the industry because it takes a lion’s share when it comes to cashing in on banking deals involving US entities including the Embassy and agencies like USAID. The MD is Sarah Arapta and the Executive Director is Robert JJagwe. They respectively earn Shs72.8m and Shs35.5m.
ORIENT BANK
Headquartered on Kampala Road near Uganda House, this Indian-owned bank has Julius Kakeeto as its MD and Darshana Bhatia as ED. They respectively earn Shs44.5m and Shs37.1m.
BANK OF AFRICA
The MD is Arthur Isiko earning over Shs105m per month with his Executive Director Bernard Robinson Magulu earning Shs75.8m.
EQUITY BANK
This Kenyan Bank is renowned for being very aggressive when looking for business. They will go as far as storming church services to be given chance to address worshippers calling on them to open bank accounts. This exactly is what they did recently at Ps Jackson Senyonga’s Christian Life Church. The MD is Samuel Kirubi and the ED is Anthony Kituka. They respectively Shs72.9m and Shs51.8m in monthly salary.
HOUSING FINANCE BANK
It’s 100% government-owned and the MD is Micheal Mugabi Karokora whose monthly salary is Shs45.7m. The ED is Peace Ayebazibwe earning Shs31.4m per month as gross salary. One remarkable thing about HFB is that it’s a market leader when it comes to mortgage business.
EXIM BANK
Earning Shs108.7m in monthly salary, the MD here is Sabhapathy Krishnan with Rajarshi Banerjee being his ED taking home Shs69.9m every month.
ECO BANK
The West African bank has Clement Dodoo as the MD and every month bags Shs133m with his ED Annet Kihuguru earning Shs34.5m.
UBA UGANDA
The MD here is Johnson Agoreyo taking home Shs109.6m every month and the ED Joseph Balikuddembe bags Shs53.4m every 30 days.
TROPICAL BANK
The Libyan bank has its headquarters near Workers House and the MD is Dennis Mugagga Kakeeto whose monthly salary is Shs58.4m and operates without an Executive Director implying he must be one of the most overworked commercial bank CEOs.
FINANCE TRUST BANK
The headquarters is in Katwe (aka ekibuga kya baddugavu) and the MD is Annet Mulindwa Nakawunde and the ED is Annet Kiggundu. They respectively earn Shs52.7m and Shs32.2m.
GUARANTY TRUST BANK
The MD here is Olalekan Sanusi earning Shs77.8m per month with the ED Irenosen Ohiwerei earning Shs27.5m. Others are Bank of India whose MD Ajay Kumar Panth earns Shs17.8m compared to his ED Amrendra Kumar who earns Shs16.7m and ABC Bank whose Ag MD Jesse Timbwa earns Shs21m. (For comments, call, text or whatsapp us on 0703164755 or email us at mulengera2040@gmail.com).
