Exclusive List: Integrity at Stake as Equity Bank battles 300 Court cases

Equity Bank Limited is one of the fastest growing banks in Uganda, with a large network of 43 branches, 4,434 EquiDuukas, 1,279 POS Terminal and 48 ATMs spread across the country.

17 of these branches are located in Central and greater Kampala, serving over 530,000 customers.

Under the leadership of Samuel Kirubi,as the Managing Director, the bank is ranked among the 10 financial institutions which have grown in assets.

However, Equity Bank, according to our findings has broken the record as the most sued bank in Uganda battling 300 commercial litigations across the country.

The 300 Court cases which have accumulated in the last 5 years include fraud, mismanagement, corruption related, aiding money laundering, among others.

But for a bank like Equity accumulating all these cases can been seen as  an anomaly given that the bank was as of 2019, in the 8th spot in market share.

The management of the institution couldn’t respond to our queries.

For one week, the MD Kirubi, the Executive Director Anthony Kituuka and marketing manager Clare Tumwesigye deliberately refused to reply our emails.

Some of the queries we raised included;

Banks are supposed to be the most trusted institutions. In fact, their existence is built on trust. Aren’t you concerned about this exceptionally high number of cases brought against the bank? Is it a case of negligent bank staff and lack of integrity or is it a case of customer dishonesty? Or is it perhaps, honest mistakes?

How many of these cases has the bank lost and how many have been won and that are the corresponding values in the worth of cases?

In the cases lost, has the bank been able to take corrective action against the implicated members of staff?

In terms of risk mitigation, what is being done to protect shareholders and customers against the costs of such errant?

Equity Bank has over the last decade been the fastest growing bank in the industry. Is the bank perhaps expanding faster than it can manage?

Below is the list of cases