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Old Mutual drops UAP name
Prof Sejjaaka, the Old Mutual chairman listens to presentations during the company's annual general meeting in Kampala yesterday. Photo / Courtesy
What you need to know:
- Old Mutual says the process to drop the UAP moniker from its brand will be completed by September next year
Old Mutual Financial Services has said it will by September next year have completely dropped the UAP moniker from its brand.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Old Mutual Financial Services annual general meeting in Kampala yesterday, Mr Simon Mwebaze, the company’s managing director, said the process, which began in March, will continue until when UAP is dropped from its name.
“We are still transitioning from a company perspective. The UAP Old Mutual brand and name are still strong in the market … what is important is you are likely to see more and more of Old Mutual and less of UAP in a few month,” he said, noting by September next year, the process would have been completed.
In June 2019, South African insurance giant, Old Mutual, indicated it had completed the acquisition of a majority stake in Kenya’s UAP Holdings across East Africa after a four-year process.
The acquisition, which began in 2015, had started with a merger that later resulted into the UAP Old Mutual brand.
Old Mutual, which also underwrites insurance, manages unit trusts, investment funds and properties, among others, also has operations in Kenya and Rwanda.
During the annual general meeting, Old Mutual told investors it had in 2022 registered impressive growth despite a challenging economic environment, characterised by volatility in the equity and money markets, which are some of the its biggest investment vehicles.
For instance, UAP noted that the size of assets under management had grown by 79 percent, rising from Shs615.4b to Shs1.09 trillion.
Prof Samuel Sejjaaka, the Old Mutual chairman, noted that the UAP Umbrella Trust Fund had registered the largest growth of 80 percent, increasing from Shs604.2b to Shs1.08 trillion, while UAP Balanced Fund grew by 10 percent from Shs3.35b to Shs3.68b.
However, the UAP Money Markets Fund experienced a 33 percent decline, falling from Shs7.77b in 2021 to Shs5.18b.
Assets under management across the industry have been growing with the regulator – Capital Markets Authority – indicating that they had grown to more than Shs1.5 trillion by September 2022.
The growth has attracted government attention, which earlier this year, had, under the income tax amendments, proposed a 10 percent and 15 percent levy - for different categories of savers - on income earned from unit trusts, before the proposal was dropped.
