KAMPALA, Uganda — Bank of Baroda Uganda Ltd. has named Chandan Singh as its new managing director, placing a seasoned veteran of the global Baroda Group at the helm of one of the country’s most profitable financial institutions. Singh succeeds Shashi Dhar, whose three-year tenure was defined by record earnings and an aggressive pivot toward digital banking.
The transition, confirmed in regulatory filings following approval from the Bank of Uganda, signals a renewed commitment to institutional stability and the acceleration of the bank’s digital-first strategy. Singh assumes leadership of a Tier-I lender that has recently outpaced the broader market, recording a staggering 97.75 percent total shareholder return in the 2025 fiscal year.
A career banker with deep roots in the group’s international operations, Singh inherits a balance sheet that remains among the healthiest on the Uganda Securities Exchange. Under the outgoing leadership of Dhar, the bank’s total deposits climbed to 2.24 trillion shillings, while net interest income grew by double digits. Dhar’s departure follows the completion of a strategic cycle that saw the bank modernize its core infrastructure and introduce its bob World digital platform to a rapidly expanding retail base.
Singh’s immediate mandate will be to translate this digital momentum into deeper market penetration within the manufacturing and small business sectors. These areas have been the bedrock of the bank’s recent growth, with gross advances reaching 1.47 trillion shillings by late 2024. The new managing director is expected to prioritize credit expansion to these productive sectors while maintaining the institution’s exceptionally high net profit margins, which recently stood at 60.2 percent.
The leadership change comes as Uganda’s banking sector faces a transformative period characterized by rising regulatory capital requirements and the encroachment of fintech disruptors. For Singh, the challenge will be to balance the bank’s 70-year legacy of relationship-driven banking with the technical demands of a younger, mobile-centric demographic.
