Stanbic gives helping hand to Ugandan surveyors

July 15, 2017 in Business by Editor

 

July 15— Stanbic Bank Uganda (SBU) recently sponsored a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Conference together with the Uganda Surveyors Registration Board (SRB), as one way to help improve the level of professionalism and standards among Ugandan surveyors.

“We are grateful to Stanbic Bank for their sponsorship. Their support will go a long way towards ensuring that the SRB is able to deliver a high quality two day training and development event. Continuous professional development is critical in enabling us to achieve our mandate of regulating and controlling the practice and activities of the surveying profession,” Judy Rugasira Kyanda , the SRB chairperson said.

Under the theme, ‘The 21^st Century Surveyor and the Surveying profession; What Next?’ the conference’ brought together surveyors and other stakeholders in the real-estate sector from Uganda and across the region.

Betty Among , the Minister of Lands Housing and Urban Development said, “Uganda as a country and economy is mainly anchored on property and land. This means surveyors are at the centre of a lot of our economic activity. They are vital to the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development whose core function is land demarcation and titling.”

Speaking about why the bank had partnered with the SRB to host the conference Jackson Emanzi, the Head of Homes loans at Stanbic Bank, said, “Surveyors play a critical role in the credit and mortgage landscape, they open up boundaries, determine the exact size and location of properties which helps establish true ownership and real values.”

He said, “As a bank it is important that before home loans are secured for a customer, a registered and certified surveyor has been engaged and delivered a professional report. It is therefore imperative that the people entrusted to undertake such an important task are well trained professionals operating to the highest ethical standards.”

Among said, “As the country moves towards middle income status, large scale infrastructure projects, which will necessitate the acquisition of large tracts of land, will be key to achieving this goal. Professional and certified surveyors will be needed to facilitate the land acquisition process but must practice their craft with the upmost integrity, commitment and patriotism.”

“This is our first CPD event since the current board took office in February, this year, but we believe it is only the beginning of a fruitful partnership with Stanbic Bank who I am confident will be a long term strategic partner in our training and professional development goals for the surveying profession in Uganda,” the SRB chairperson said.

In a related development Emanzi said, “In an effort to make mortgages and home loans cheaper for Ugandans, Stanbic has already responded to the central bank’s recent interest rate cut by reducing its Prime Lending Rate in equal measure.

At 18% down from 19% , Stanbic Bank, the PLR for Uganda Shillings is the lowest of all commercial banks active in the local credit Market,” Emanzi said. He encouraged new and existing customers to take advantage of the most affordable local currency borrowing rate of the past four years.