As you are all aware, the Bank of Uganda had to intervene in Crane Bank and take it into statutory management in November. The cause of Crane Bank’s distress was non performing loans, which had risen to more than 20 percent of its total loan portfolio and which left it significantly under capitalised.
Because it is a systemically important bank, we intend to resolve Crane Bank in a manner which preserves its core functions and services to customers. Fortunately, all of the other commercial banks are meeting their capital adequacy requirements. One of the most important strengths of our banking system, and the key to its resilience, is the strong capital buffers which banks hold.