KAMPALA — I&M Bank Uganda is set to open branches in former Crane Bank premises at Ntinda, Seeta and Entebbe, returning the buildings to banking use years after a court fight over who owned the leases.
The Ntinda opening, reported by Trumpet News on 7 October 2026, puts the bank in a building that housed Crane Bank before the lender was placed under Bank of Uganda receivership in 2016. Crane Bank’s assets and liabilities were transferred to dfcu Bank in 2017. Seeta and Entebbe are part of the same return to former Crane Bank sites.
The Ntinda property was among dozens that Meera Investments Limited, associated with businessman Sudhir Ruparelia, said it owned as landlord. dfcu had taken leasehold interests in 48 properties that housed Crane Bank branches. Meera argued the leases could not pass to dfcu without its written consent.
In October 2023 the High Court Land Division agreed. It cancelled dfcu’s leasehold titles, declared the bank a trespasser, ordered vacant possession of the 48 properties and awarded Meera Shs2.4 billion in general damages, plus costs. The properties sit in towns including Kampala, Entebbe, Mukono, Masaka, Mbarara corridor points, Gulu, Arua and Fort Portal.
dfcu said it had already left the disputed branches in 2020, and that the properties had come to it under the purchase-of-assets and assumption agreement with Bank of Uganda. By February 2024 the High Court had directed a formal handover. In February 2026 the Land Division noted that dfcu had vacated 47 of the 48 premises, though restoration was incomplete. Restoration costs were put at Shs33.98 billion plus VAT, about Shs40.1 billion, in proceedings that remain on appeal.
The Ntinda site therefore moves from Crane Bank, to dfcu, to a planned I&M branch. I&M already runs an Ntinda service centre at Capital Shoppers Mall, and lists an Entebbe Town branch at Plot 29, Kampala Road. It has also operated from Kingdom Kampala, the Ruparelia Group development on Nile Avenue, so the Ntinda move puts it in a second property tied to the same real-estate interests.
For Meera, occupation by another commercial bank is a break from the years when the buildings were evidence in the Crane Bank takeover case. Meera and related entities have also pursued further claims over the period dfcu occupied the properties.
I&M has not, in the material available, published a date for the Ntinda, Seeta and Entebbe openings. What is already on record is the court history: the leases were cancelled, dfcu was told to leave, and the buildings are going back into banking.
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