[2008-01-29]  Barclays, KCB Announce New Top Executives
PROBABLY as a show of what is at stake and what the market should expect, two banking giants in East Africa - Barclays Bank and Kenya Commercial Bank - over the weekend announced changes to their top executives in Uganda.

Ms Charity Jinya becomes the first woman managing director for a banking entity in Uganda taking over from Mr Nick Mbuvi at Barclays Bank.


Although her appointment to Barclays Uganda from Barclays Zimbabwe where she was the managing director was underway since late last year, she started work early this month.

A statement from Barclays described Ms Jinya as having been "instrumental in the expansion of Barclays Zimbabwe's branch and ATM network furthering the Bank's strategy to reach under-banked areas of the country."

KCB

The KCB board meanwhile has appointed Mr James Agin, 39, to head its subsidiary in Uganda.

Making the announcement, KCB Group Chief Executive Martin Oduor-Otieno said: "Agin brings valuable expertise and experience to KCB Bank Uganda having been in a senior position of a multi-national bank for over eight years. We believe that we have brought on board a colleague capable of driving the business in Uganda."

Ironically, Agin moves from Barclays Bank Uganda where he served as a Corporate Director.

Mr Oduor-Otieno added: "Agin's immediate priority would be to craft a market-driven business strategy and set up a structure that would deliver business success."

Ms Jinya spoke of the urgency to scale up the bank's customer care culture and corporate social responsibility spending, as steps to achieving its long term objective of becoming the leading bank in the country.

"We treasure the environment and communities in which we work and we'll increase our efforts in ensuring that our relationship with them grows stronger and mutually beneficial," she said on Friday last week at a function to welcome her.

Outgoing MD Nick Mbuvi said Barclays Uganda had grown tremendously under his leadership citing its purchase and integration of Nile bank as one of the key achievements.

By the end of December 2007, Barclays Uganda had a network of over 35 branches and over 55 ATM machines countrywide.


KCB that opened business in Uganda last November is keen to penetrate the market as fast as possible especially that it is increasingly becoming competitive with new players entering the market and existing ones entrenching themselves by providing a barrage of portfolio products and incentives to capture the fluid market.

"The appointment of Agin is a critical step to the establishment of the bank's youngest subsidiary which officially began operations in November last year.

It is also a major step in our efforts to establish our regional presence coming at a time when we are ready to commence operations in Sudan. Agin has excellent credentials and is a valuable addition to the KCB team," KCB's Deputy Chief Executive, Peter Munyiri, who is in charge of Group Businesses, said in a press statement.




Source: Copyright © 2008 The Monitor.