Qn:      How many branches does Orient Bank have?

At the moment we have seven branches and we are trying to open branches in upcountry and rural areas. We first wanted to concentrate on the urban areas like Jinja, Entebbe and Kampala to give first class banking service.
Now, we are capable of offering the same first class banking services upcountry and rural banks. We do not want any variation in the services level where people will say that services at Orient Kampala branch is better than any other Orient Branch. At the moment, we are exploring possibilities and are in process of identifying potential areas where we can open more branches.

Qn       What do you say about high interest rates charged by commercial banks?

There has been a lot of discussion going on the high interest rates. The concept rate is not easy as it seems because it is influenced by external market forces. Its wrong to say that commercial bank charge higher interest rates because it all depends on demand and supply of liquidity in the market. If supply is there in form of cheap deposits than obviously lending rates will be low. But on the contrary, deposit rates are higher than lending rates have to be higher.
Let me give you an example Government Treasury bills are the best way to find the indicative market rates. In the last auction, 364 days yield was 12.3%.
Now, in order to attract depositors, we have to give a little higher than that, like 13% to 14%. So, if we give 13% on deposit and after adding our operational and administrative cost the resultant lending rate would come between 18% to 20%. At the moment, our Prime lending rate is at 19%.
I will give you another example. Apex funding used for development projects also uses market indicative rates to determine their base lending rates of last three months. So higher the T Bills rates higher the lending rates and vice versa.

Qn       How has the bank been able to cope with the current power crisis in the country?

It is indeed giving us hard time. Not only in operation of the bank but as you are aware, we largely depend on ICT functions. We need 24 hours power supply to operate our servers and other ICT hardware. All our branches are connected online and to keep them in operation we need constant power supply.
Consequently, we have to not only invest in generators but also incur heavy cost on running and maintaining generators.

Qn       How has the bank progressed for the past few years?

In the last five years, the growth has been tremendous. We have been very aggressive in the market. Our growth is steady because of our strong foundation, personalized customer services and effective controls. Obviously, due to all such factors, we were able to achieve our growth and infact still growing. We strongly believe in customer satisfaction which is above any advertisement or marketing campaign. We catered almost all the business sectors in Uganda. Over 70% of our total customers are indigenous Ugandans. So, we are proud to classify ourselves as a local bank.

Qn       What services does the bank offer?
           
We have tried to go a step ahead than traditionally banking services. This was only possible due to high innovation of ICT.
Soon, we are going to start long term mortgage finance. Recently, we have evolved in retail banking.
All our branches are linked online which enables our customer to do transaction in any of our branches. We are also part of IFC global funds for trade finance. The trade industry in Uganda will be able to utilize this facility which ultimately boosts our economy. As you recall, we were the first in introducing Debit and Credit Cards in Uganda. We have automatic teller machines (ATM) but after Bankom link, cardholders are able to use any ATM of the members’ bank. People may ask why we are not investing in ATMs like other banks. Our answer is simple.
We don’t have to re-invent the wheel. Why should we invest where facilities are already there? Orient bank card holder can use any ATM of Nile, DFCU, and Cairo bank. We are soon starting the same concept for our POS network for Debit/Credit cards.

Qn       Do you lend for long term or short term periods?
           
Well, we have a versatile credit policy. We do project lending as well as credit facilities for working capital needs. We are the qualifying bank for issuing the APEX funding from Bank of Uganda. Not all banks are qualified to issue such funding. We have business and personal loans. Our credit department is sub-divided into various sections to effectively handle corporate and retail loans.

Qn       Why should Orient Bank be the bank of everyone’s choice?
           
Come to Orient Bank for all your banking needs because our growth and performance says it all. We are growing because people have trusted us and we shall work to our outmost abilities to keep that trust.