2020 was a year for many firsts for Anne Juuko. In March 2020, she took over at the helm at Stanbic Bank, Uganda’s largest bank with almost 30% market share. But it was also her first time as a Chief Executive ever. Hardly had she settled into the the country, before the  biggest part of 2020 went under a national lockdown.

As the country’s largest bank, risk exposure would come naturally. But if 2020 performance results are anything to go by, it appears, Anne Juuko has perhaps passed the hardest test of her career with- posting growth amidst adversity- all in her first year.

Results released recently, show the bank posted a profit of UGX242 billion. Although this is 6.8% lower than the UGX253 billion made in 2019, it is still a huge milestone compared to the challenges of 2020.

More importantly, the bank posted key growth on other fundamentals, such as customer deposits that grew from UGX 4.7 trillion in 2019 to UGX 5.4 trillion in 2020. Growth in deposits, powered, an increase in loans and advances- by 27% year on year from UGX 2.8 trillion to UGX 3.6 trillion as the bank provided the much-needed new credit to key sectors in the economy at height of the pandemic.

On her part, Juuko said: “It was an incredibly difficult year for the entire economy, but Stanbic has shown that it remains a strong and well-capitalised bank committed to contributing to economic growth and transformation,” she said.

She also said that the bank showed up when its customers needed it most by ensuring that “customers can benefit from more affordable lending rates.”

“We also offered credit relief programmes to our customers in response to Covid–19 challenges with over UGX 800 billion worth of loans were restructured in 2020,” he added.

Stanbic also increased support to the community and invested over UGX 3.9 billion through Corporate Social Investment programmes.

“We made donations to frontline health workers in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, contributed food and supplies to local communities where we operate and continued to provide support in the areas of education, environment and maternal health,” she said.