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Location: 1st Floor, Rwenzori House 1 Lumumba Avenue, Kampala, Uganda Postal Address: P.O.Box 10314 Kampala, Uganda  Kenya beat Uganda as a favourable destination for collective schemes looking to make investments in various equity, according to a report released by consulting firm, Deloitte.Kenya came in ahead of its East African peers in attracting private equity firms with 12 of 26 deals recorded in the region.The neighbouring country raked in Shs319 billion, with Rwanda coming in second with Shs116 billion, Tanzania Shs14 billion and lastly Uganda fetching only Shs11 billion.The report, East Africa Private Equity Confidence Survey, revealed that majority of the deals focused on agribusiness, healthcare and the financial sector targeting small and medium enterprises (SMEs).It pointed to the investment climate as one of the major factors that drove private equity. In East Africa, Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania all have experienced a decline in investor focus. However, Kenya remained the number one country that most investors are focusing on. Read more ▪   Jared Osoro, an economist, notes that this may affect the exchange rate. “When the fiscal deficit grows faster than the Gross Domestic Product growth, there is a depreciation bias on the shilling. At the moment, it is hard to differentiate between fiscal and monetary policy in Uganda as both are pulling in the same direction,’’ he noted.“A very accommodative monetary policy may boost economic growth, but fail to anchor inflation,” Osoro added, while speaking at the Deloitte past budget breakfast at the Sheraton Hotel. The exchange rate was relatively stable, with a marginal appreciation of the shilling by about 2% against the US dollar on the back of strong foreign direct investment. Maria Kiwanuka, the finance minister, explained in the budget speech that the net domestic financing will include a draw down of the energy fund to finance the Karuma and Isimba hydropower projects. Read more ▪ Orient Bank has enhanced security for its electronic and other online banking transactions after the Bank of Uganda (BoU) and the police warned industry players against risingg levels of cyber crime and electronic fraud.To keep ahead of competition and fraud-free, the bank last week launched enhanced debit visa chip and pin cards–innovations that will enable customers use the cards for on-line transactions and making payments at various merchant locations across the world with no worry of fraud.According to Deloitte East Africa Financial Crimes Survey, banks and to some extent, telecommunication companies that provide mobile money services, lose between $1million (about Shs2.5billion) to $10billion (about Shs25billion) to electronic fraud and cyber crime every year. Read more ▪ East African Regional players in the Banking and ICT sectors are this month converging in Kampala to forge a way out of the worryingly escalating cases of fraud and insecurity in the sectors. The debate is slated to take place at the 3rd East African Banking and ICT summit to be held in Kampala on April 25.Cyber Security Africa which is organizing the conference said he discussion will centre on key security issues on banking systems, software, mobile banking, cards and payments, fraud and risk management solutions.It will also explore solutions to banking fraud, IT security threats, risk and regulatory issues affecting financial institutions, government agencies and other organizations.The event follows last month's study report by Delloitte indicating that Uganda leads the rest of the countries in the region in Cheque-related fraud cases.The country also come number one, in cases of fraud related with accounting, mortgages and financial statements. Read more ▪ Players in the financial services industry have been urged to put in place strong security controls to curb the ever increasing fraud in the East Africa region.Speaking at the launch of the Deloitte 2013 Financial Crimes Survey report in Kampala, Mr Robert Nyamu, the director Forensic and Litigation Support Deloitte, said there has been an increase in cases of fraud in the region due to financial institutions’ failure to put in place high-tech controls that match the kind of innovative products put on the market.According to the report, Uganda loses between $1 million (Shs2.4 billion) and $10 million (Shs24.9 billion) annually to fraud while Kenya and Tanzania lose more than $10 million, each annually.“We salute the innovation happening in the financial services industry but we feel a lot needs to be done because as more innovations are rolled out, there is need to elevate the security systems to make it more challenging for fraudsters to get their hands on depositors’ money,” Mr Nyamu said on Wednesday. Read more ▪ Uganda telecoms have lowest revenue per user in EA - report Telecommunication companies in Uganda have the lowest Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) compared to their counterparts in the region, a Deloitte study shows.The Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT) Predictions 2014: Highlights and context report indicates that while Kenya’s ARPU was $6.2 (Shs15,020) last year and $4.4 (Shs10,660) for Tanzania, Ugandans spent only $3.5 (Shs8,479) on average on airtime.Kenya’s ARPU is expected to rise to $6.5 (Shs15,747) this year, $3.7 (Shs8,964) for Uganda while Tanzania’s is expected to remain unchanged at $4.4 (Shs10,660) this year. This means that majority of mobile phone users in Uganda are low-end subscribers, whose propensity to spend on mobile value added solutions is low; thereby depressing the effective rate of revenue realisation per minute for the operators. Read more ▪ Oil and Gas spur infrastructure development in East Africa The recent discoveries of oil and gas in East Africa are boosting infrastructural developments in the East African region, according to the Deloitte on Africa: African Construction Trends Report 2013.The quests for better transport infrastructure, reliable energy are also driving this growth, according to the report.Of the projects surveyed throughout the entire African continent, the East African region accounted for 93 projects, representing 29% of all the surveyed works, with a value of about US$67.7b. At the unveiling of the report in Kampala on, Dr. Mark Smith, Deloitte’s partner for Infrastructure and Capital Projects noted however, that development of public sector projects such as road and railway works, ports development dwarf those orchestrated by the private players.“In the East Africa region, over 70% are projects that are being built for the public sector,” he said. Read more ▪  Deloitte: Cheque fraud widespread in Uganda, says financial report Kampala- Cases of fraud involving cheques are more rampant in Uganda than in any other country in East Africa, a recent Deloitte report has shown.The Financial Crimes Survey Report, 2013, released recently, reveals that 50 per cent of cheque-related fraud happens in Uganda compared to Kenya’s 44 per cent and Tanzania’s 14 per cent.Uganda also leads in mortgage and accounting and financial statements fraud.Kenya, which is said to be having a mature financial market, registered the highest prevalence of cash theft, asset misappropriation, credit card fraud, investments fraud and Real time gross settlement systems (RTGS) and Electronic funds transfer ( EFT) fraud. Read more ▪ |