KAMPALA-Centenary Rural Development Group, the mother company of Centenary Bank Uganda, has teamed up with the Catholic Archdiocese of Lilongwe so they can acquire a 100 percent shareholding in Malawi’s MyBucks Banking Corporation.
In a statement released Tuesday, Dr. Francis Z. Pelekamoyo, Board Chairman of MyBucks Banking Corporation, said Centenary and the Malawian Archdiocese had submitted their final offer.
“The submission of the final bidding offer comes after three months of conducting due diligence on the bank,” Pelekamoyo said.
Now the Receiver Manager for MyBucks S.A. [in liquidation] and the consortium are in the process of applying for all relevant regulatory approvals to finalise the acquisition, whose value remains concealed as per now.
Centenary Bank is Uganda’s largest microfinance bank. It was founded in 1983 as Centenary Rural Development Trust [CRDT] — a credit trust — by Simeon Lutaakome, Hugh Francis Pulle, Paul Kateregga, Vincent Kirabo kya Maria, Emmanuel Mpande, and John Ogutu.
In 1985, CRDT began to provide financial services to the public. The bank became a fully licensed commercial bank in 1993, after receiving a license from regulating Bank of Uganda. As of May 2016, Centenary Bank was the largest majority indigenous Ugandan commercial bank.
In May 2009, John Giles left the Managing Director position after three years.
In 2011, the Centenary Bank launched a programme with the World Bank Group to provide agricultural loans.
Six years later, Centenary launched a new core banking platform developed by the Greek company Intrasoft International S.A. and signed a partnership with Mastercard to develop a broad suite of new mobile banking solutions. In December 2017, the Centenary Bank signed a deal with WorldRemit to allow transfer from the remittance service.
The bank is a large financial services provider primarily involved in the promotion of development through loans to rural farmers, processors of agricultural produce, small traders, small manufacturers, importers, and exporters.
This planned Malawian acquisition is the first major foray by a Ugandan bank to spread its business wings beyond the country’s borders. Previously, the defunct banks-Greenland Bank had operating branches in both Kenya and Tanzania while Crane Bank had operations in Kigali.
While engaged in all areas of commercial banking, the bank has a significant portion of its portfolio in the microfinance arena in an attempt to meet the needs of the many individuals and business entities with limited means.
As of December 2021, the bank’s assets were Shs 4.8 trillion [US$1.359 billion], with shareholders’ equity of Shs 789.52 billion [US$222.78 million].
Copying from Kenyan rivals, the KCB Group and Equity Group that own Kenya Commercial Bank [KCB] and Equity Bank, affiliates spread in the East African Community [EAC], Centenary Rural Development Group is the first indigenous banking investors to acquire a commercial bank outside of Uganda.
A top official said Centenary Bank’s business model of targeting rural farmers, processors of agricultural produce, small traders, small manufacturers, importers, and exporters has seen the bank grow and that with expansion more is to come.
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