Libyan-Owned Tropical Bank of Uganda Posts Loss as Deposits Drop

Tropical Bank Ltd., the Libyan- owned lender seized by Uganda’s central bank last year, said it posted a loss in 2011 after customer deposits declined.

The loss totaled 624.2 million shillings ($249,256) in the 12 months through December, compared with a profit of 5.6 billion shillings a year earlier, the Kampala-based bank said in a statement published today in the New Vision newspaper. Customer deposits dropped 49 percent to 64.97 billion shillings, it said.

Uganda took control of Tropical Bank on March 25, 2011, to protect the lender from sanctions imposed on Libya by the United Nations and returned it to its owners on March 6. The UN measures were aimed at halting attacks by slain Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi’s regime on protesters.

To contact the reporter on this story: Fred Ojambo in Kampala at fojambo@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.