East African Business Week

KAMPALA, UGANDA - Centenary Bank, the biggest indigenous bank in the country has opened a new branch in the South Western district of Kanungu, with the sole aim of financing agricultural related activities in the district.
This is the third commercial bank in the district that brings to 39 Centenary Bank's branches in the country. The Bank Chairman, Mr. Ddumba Sentamu, said Centenary Bank had extended to Kanungu a rich experience in financing agriculture.
"We have customized products like Agricultural loans, Animal Traction Loan, Veterinary Association Loan Scheme, and Rockefeller Farmer Guarantee Programme (RFGM), all of which have been designed to respond to problems faced by farmers," Sentamu  said at the opening of the branch.
Bank of Uganda Director Apollo Obbo while officiating at the ceremony commended Centenary Bank for pioneering the drive to extend Agricultural and commercial banking services to rural areas.
"Over the past few years, Centenary Bank has strived to bring banking services closer to its customers and in so doing led the way in conceiving innovative methods of service delivery," said Obbo.
In addition to its growing branch network, the bank recently pioneered the mobile banking unit which is intended to provide expanded service coverage at a relatively low cost.
This unit , which is akin to a 'branch-on-wheels' and is currently active in Northern Uganda,  will go a long way in reducing transaction costs that customers in remote locations incur in order to conduct banking services.
 "We are hopeful that the pilot offering of this service will be successful and that it will also be rolled out to other unbanked and difficult to access rural areas of Uganda," said Obbo.
Mr  James Musinguzi Garuga, a businessman encouraged Kanungu residents to utilise the bank to grow their businesses but warned them not to take bank loans as gifts when they are issued out but rather to strive to grow their businesses and agricultural activities.
Centenary Bank is a Catholic Church founded commercial institution which targets developing rural areas through provision of small to large scale loans and inputs.