Orient Bank

Orient Bank is a commercial bank in Uganda and licensed by the Bank of Uganda (BOU), the central bank and national banking regulator.

Overview

The bank is involved in all aspects of commercial banking, with emphasis on providing banking services to non-government organisations and their staffs. As of December 2014, the bank was the 13th largest commercial bank in Uganda, with estimated assets of US$173 million and customer deposits of about US$139 million.

History

The bank was founded in 1993 by a group of businesspeople who were related by blood and marriage.

In 1996, the bank ventured into the city of Jinja, about one hour's drive east of the capital Kampala, and opened its second branch there.

In 2002, the bank acquired Trans-Africa Bank Limited, which had been declared insolvent by the BOU.

Following a spate of Ugandan bank failures in the 1990s and early 2000s, the banking laws in Uganda were changed to bar family members from jointly owning more than 49 percent in the same financial institution. Orient Bank was given a grace period to find a suitable investor.