Uganda’s growing pool of savings and investments is creating a new battleground for financial institutions, with Absa Bank Uganda moving to position itself as a one-stop partner for customers looking to grow, diversify and preserve their wealth.
The bank yesterday launched Absa Wealth, a new proposition that brings together wealth advisory, investment solutions, specialised lending, multi-currency banking and access to local and international investment opportunities under one banking relationship.
The move comes as more Ugandans turn to professionally managed investment products, with assets held in Collective Investment Schemes (CIS) rising to Shs7.06 trillion, according to the Capital Markets Authority (CMA).
The amount has surged from Shs731 billion in June 2021, while the number of funded investor accounts has grown to more than 220,000, signalling increasing participation in Uganda’s capital markets.
The retirement benefits sector has also accumulated more than Shs30 trillion in assets in the 2024/25 financial year, further expanding the country’s pool of long-term capital.
At the same time, Uganda’s economy grew by 6.4 per cent in the 2025/26 financial year, reaching approximately Shs250.4 trillion.
For Absa, the growing wealth pool presents an opportunity to move customers beyond conventional banking services such as saving, borrowing and day-to-day transactions.
David Wandera, the Absa Bank Uganda managing director, said the changing investment landscape requires banks to engage customers on how their money can be invested and protected rather than simply saved.
«“As Uganda’s economy grows and more wealth is created, the conversation must increasingly move beyond how we save to how we invest, diversify and preserve that wealth,” Wandera said.»
He said Absa Wealth was intended to deepen the bank’s relationship with customers by helping them make more deliberate investment decisions while providing solutions suited to their changing financial needs.
The proposition also gives eligible customers access to investment opportunities outside Uganda through Absa Group’s wider African and international network.
These include investments in markets such as Mauritius, as well as products denominated in the US dollar, euro and British pound.
Customers can access foreign currency bonds, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and structured deposits, allowing them to spread their investments across different asset classes, currencies and markets.
Wandera said wealth management should not be viewed as a single investment product but as a broader financial strategy based on an individual customer’s goals.
The bank has also designed the proposition to accommodate investors with different levels of experience and capital.
Through Absa Invest Plus, customers can start investing with as little as Shs10,000 or its equivalent in US dollars.
The professionally managed solution, offered through Absa and managed by Sanlam, gives customers access to low-risk investment funds in both shilling and US dollar, investing mainly in government securities and other interest-bearing investments.
Customers can also buy government Treasury bills and Treasury bonds through Absa, while those with more sophisticated financial needs can access wealth advisory, specialised lending, multi-currency banking and international investment solutions.
The bank’s move comes against the backdrop of a rapidly expanding capital markets industry.
CMA figures show that more than Shs23.4 trillion has been mobilised through Uganda’s capital markets, underscoring their growing importance as a source of long-term savings and investment capital.
However, the growth also places greater responsibility on financial institutions and regulators to ensure that new investors understand the risks associated with different investment products.
CMA chief executive officer Josephine Okui Ossiya said the increase in investor participation reflected growing confidence in regulated capital markets but warned that expansion must be accompanied by investor protection and education.
She said financial institutions must ensure that investment products are appropriately structured, transparently disclosed and matched to customers’ financial goals and risk profiles.
The Absa Wealth launch brought together officials from the CMA and Bank of Uganda, fund managers and other investment industry players, including Cornerstone, Sanlam Allianz, Prudential and Old Mutual.
For Absa, the bigger ambition is to move customers from simply accumulating money to making it work across a wider range of investments, markets and currencies as Uganda’s wealth creation deepens.
