Deepak Malik who has been a director on the board of Dfcu bank has finally resigned and left the board of the bank.
According to an internal memo, Malik ceased being a member of the board on September 21, 2018. The board had early hinted on his resignation as being normal.

“The board of directors of Dfcu (the company) informs its shareholders and general public of the resignation of Mr Malik as a directorin the company with effect from the 21th of September 2018. Mr Malik joined the board in November 2007 as an independent director and resigns due to increased professional commitments following his appointment as the Chief Executive Officer of AriseBV, the majority shareholder in the company”

Eagle Online has reliably learnt most mid managers have resigned at the bank since a Kenyan human resource consultant was brought in the restructuring process.
He also serves as the Head of Department – Financial Institutions and part of the management team at Norfund.

Arise B.V. first acquired a majority stake of over 50 per cent in Dfcu Limited, the holding company of Dfcu Bank after lending US $50 million in February 2017. The money was to help DFCU Bank meet its short-term capitalisation needs after it controversially took over Crane Bank in January 2017.
Arise B.V. acquired the stake in DFCU Bank from two previous largest shareholders of Dfcu Bank-Rabo Development B.V and Norfinance AS (Norfund) which had a 27.54 per cent stake each to become the largest majority shareholder in Dfcu Bank.

The South Africa-based company was to support Dfcu Limited via long-term investment in the bank’s growth ambitions, especially to enable the bank to improve its market position and efficiencies especially after acquiring Crane Bank Limited in a deal many analysts believe had financial flaws.

Malik’s resignation as a non executive director means the Dfcu board is now left with five other non-executive directors led by All Elly Karuhanga as Chairman. Others directors are; Albert Jonkergouw, Winifred Tarinyeba- Kiryabwire, Frederick Kironde Lule and Michael Alan Turner.
Analysts say the Malik’s decision to resign confirms reports that Arise B.V. intends to leave especially that Britain’s Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC) Group intends to exit, following Dfcu Bank’s controversial acquisition of Crane Bank Limited in January last year at only Shs200 billion yet Crane Bank had assets worth over Shs1 trillion.

Reports indicate that CDC is leaving for various reasons which include poor economy but some sources say CDC wants to dodge paying taxes on its dividends. Other sources intimated to Eagle Online that top executives at Arise B.V. decided to plan exiting Dfcu Bank in fear that CDC was leaving them trouble, they being new and majority shareholders of Dfcu Bank.

Financial analysts say with the revelation by Auditor General that Dfcu acquired Crane Bank Limited and yet it was the valuer and at the same time a buyer could land top Bank of Uganda executives in trouble as big shareholders of Dfcu are spending sleepless nights. The situation is made worse as the case is also in court.

Back to Malik
Mr. Malik joined Norfund as an Investment Director in 2003 where his efforts were spent in promoting Norwegian investments in Southern Africa and the region.
He was previously the Regional Director of South Africa at Norfund. He has started his career at SIEMENS (India) in 1982, after which he opened a private consultancy in 1984, specialising in financial services. He was then appointed as audit manager for KPMG in 1988, following which he became Financial Director for ZAL HOLDINGS (Ltd) – a subsidiary of Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines Limited.

In 1993 he became the Financial Controller for Mulungushi Investments and in 1994 was appointed as the Manager Operations Accounting. In 1995 he was appointed General Manager for Group Procurement. Mr. Malik was responsible for the regional office for Africa. He served as an Acting Head of Department Financial institutions and SME at Norfund.

He also served as the Regional Representative at The Industrialization Fund for Developing Countries, of Denmark. Previously, Mr. Malik’s vast experience included his roles as a Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at the Development Bank of Zambia, as a General Manager at Zambia Consolidated Copper Mines and as an Audit Manager at KPMG. He serves as the Chairman of AfriCap Microfinance Investment Company. He is on the Board of Directors of various companies, including financial institutions and private equity funds.

He is a Non-Executive Director of Real People (Pty) Ltd. since July 20, 2011. He serves as a Non-Executive Director at Equity Group Holdings Limited. He is a Non-Executive Director of Equity Group Holdings Limited since April 29, 2015. He had served as a Non-Executive Director of Real People Investment Holdings Limited since May 28, 2015. He served as a Board Member of Norwegian Microfinance Initiative.

He served as a Director of NMBZ Holdings Limited and NMB Bank Limited from January 31, 2014 to October 22, 2014. He is also the Head of Financial Institutions Department of Norfund, covering Africa, South Asia and Central America.
He is also part of the Executive Management team of Norfund. He has over 35 years’ experience and has a diverse experience in general management, development banking, banking, private equity, audit, microfinance, corporate and public finance, project financing, financial restructuring and privatization in emerging markets, mining, procurement and financial management.

His specialization is working with multilateral/bilateral financial institutions and he also has an extensive knowledge of developing countries. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honors) from the University of Delhi, India.

DFCU Shareholding percentages
Arise BV 58.71 per cent
CDC Group of the United Kingdom 9.97 per cent
National Social Security Fund (Uganda) 7.69 per cent
Kimberlite Frontier Africa Naster Fund 6.15 per cent
2 undisclosed Institutional Investors 3.22 per cent
SSB-Conrad N. Hilton Foundation 0.98 per cent
Vanderbilt University 0.87 per cent
Blakeney Management 0.63 per cent
Retail investors 11.19 per cent
BoU staff retirement benefit scheme is 0.59 per cent