All is not well with new Dfcu Bank Managing Director, William Sekabembe, who faces resistance from some of the staff that didn’t want his predecessor and now Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Juma Kisaame to leave the bank.
Kissame officially leaves in the first quarter of 2019, according to a recent statement from the bank. He will be succeeded by Mathias Katamba. Katamba will take over the leadership role at Dfcu Bank as CEO starting from January 2, 2019. He formally worked with Housing Finance Bank as a MD.
On the other Sekabembe was Chief Of Business & Executive Director at Dfcu Bank but is now expected to work closely with Katamba.
An inside source says about six senior staff have tendered in their resignation letters because they don’t want to work under Mr. Sekabembe, who denied to join Kenya Commercial Bank (U) Limited, as MD.
The source says the stubbornness of the pro-Kisaame staff is making things difficult for Sekabembe who has been given targets that he must achieve.
Dfcu Bank has not had a smooth running since it took of Crane Bank Limited in a controversial transaction with the Bank of Uganda (BoU). Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (Cosase) is probing BoU top officials over the controversial sale of seven commercial banks
Kisaame has had notable achievements some of which include playing a key role in assisting Dfcu Limited, the holding company, realign the shareholding that brought on board strategic partners like Arise Investments BV that include Rabobank, Norfund (later NorFinance) and FMO. He also led the most successful acquisitions in the banking industry in Uganda when Dfcu Bank acquired some assets and took over some liabilities of Global Trust (U) Ltd Bank (In liquidation) in 2014 and later in 2017 acquired some assets and assumed some liabilities of Crane Bank Limited (In Receivership).’
The Chairman went on to express his appreciation to Kisaame for his professional and personal commitment during his tenure as CEO and his extraordinary leadership that increased shareholders value; saw Dfcu Bank rise to become the second largest bank in the country; resulting in three-fold balance sheet growth to over three trillion Uganda shillings, a customer base of close to one million and a network of 65 branches.