KAMPALA, Uganda — November 13, 2026 — Standard Chartered Uganda has completed the sale and transfer of its Wealth and Retail Banking business to Absa Bank Uganda Limited, effective today, closing a transaction that reshapes the top tier of Ugandan retail banking.
The completion follows all required regulatory approvals, including the Bank of Uganda’s approval of the sale, announced jointly by the two banks in June 2026. The COMESA Competition Commission also assessed the transaction and cleared it. With completion, Standard Chartered’s wealth and retail clients, products and the staff who support them move to Absa, a wholly owned subsidiary of the JSE-listed Absa Group and one of Uganda’s largest banks, with 39 branches and 85 ATMs nationwide before the integration. The financial terms of the sale were not disclosed.
Standard Chartered Uganda CEO and Managing Director Sanjay Rughani described the completion as an important milestone and the culmination of a carefully managed transition. Absa Bank Uganda Managing Director David Wandera welcomed the transferring clients and colleagues, saying the two banks worked closely through the handover to preserve the products, pricing, relationships and support that clients value.
What Clients Should Expect This Weekend
The final migration of client accounts and banking services runs from Friday, November 13 through Sunday, November 15, and Standard Chartered banking services are unavailable during that window. Clients begin accessing their Absa accounts, services and banking channels on Monday, November 16, 2026, with new account numbers communicated directly by Absa alongside an official welcome letter.
Standard Chartered’s client notice set noon on Friday, November 13 as the cut-off for card transactions, transfers and most account services, with its City and Lugogo branches closing on November 12 and the Speke Road branch closing at noon on the 13th; the bank’s ATMs and cash deposit machines were progressively decommissioned between November 9 and 13. Standing order instructions carry over to the new Absa accounts, and investment portfolios and custody accounts — including the SC Shilingi digital wealth platform — migrate to Absa as part of the transfer.
A Deal Two Years in the Making
The completion traces to November 27, 2024, when Standard Chartered PLC announced it was exploring the sale of its Wealth & Retail Banking businesses in Botswana, Uganda and Zambia, to concentrate its resources in those markets on corporate and financial-institution clients with cross-border needs. Standard Chartered and Absa announced their agreement for the Uganda business on October 24, 2025, at a signing in Kampala where Rughani and Wandera executed the transaction documents for their respective banks. The Bank of Uganda’s approval followed in June 2026, subject to conditions that have now been fulfilled.
Uganda is one step in a wider continental pattern: Standard Chartered handed its Tanzanian retail business to Access Bank in June 2025, and the same strategy is being executed across the three markets named in the 2024 announcement.
What Remains
Standard Chartered is not leaving Uganda. The bank, which opened its doors in the country on August 12, 1912 and is Uganda’s longest-established commercial bank, continues through its Corporate & Investment Banking franchise — serving businesses and institutions and connecting them to opportunities through its global network, expertise and financing capabilities. Its wealth and retail chapter, after 114 years of presence in the market, now continues under Absa’s name.
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