Kasekende to head Standard Chartered Bank in Zambia

Mr Herman Kasekende, the first Ugandan to head Standard Chartered Bank

What you need to know:

  • Mr Albert Saltson, a Ghanian national will be announced as the CEO Standard Chartered Bank Uganda. He has been CEO Standard Chartered Bank Gambia for the last one and half years.

Kampala – Mr Herman Kasekende, the first Ugandan to head Standard Chartered Bank, the second largest bank in Uganda, will be moving to Zambia as Chief Executive Officer.
Mr Kasekende will at the end of this month be relinquishing his position as CEO Standard Chartered Bank Uganda after four and half years of service.
Mr Kasekende said: “I am glad to have served the Ugandan market in my position as CEO. I have been given the opportunity to head Standard Chartered Bank Zambia, one of the most profitable subsidiaries in Southern Africa.”

Mr Kasekende, 52, is a career banker with experience well over 25 years in Uganda. The majority of those years were spent at Standard Chartered Bank Uganda where he rose through the ranks until he was named CEO in 2012. He is in a club of a few Ugandans to head a commercial bank in the country. His tenure has been all about restructuring, focusing on digital transformation and bumpy as profits in 2015 plunged Shs86 billion to Shs25 billion over defaults by some of their corporate clients.
That was Mr Kasekende’s worst year as CEO but he has managed to maintain the bank as the second largest in the country.
It is the attempt to refocus the bank on SMEs and retail clients that there was a challenge because of high-interest rates and loan defaults.

“The economy is growing slower than expected and this is affecting our clientele. We managed to restructure some loans and continued with recoveries on others,” he added.
Standard Chartered Bank is expected to make an official announcement about Mr Kasekende’s departure on Tuesday.
Mr Albert Saltson, a Ghanian national will be announced as the CEO Standard Chartered Bank Uganda. He has been CEO Standard Chartered Bank Gambia for the last one and half years. He has been part of the Standard Bank Group since 1986.