People always debate certain topics because they lack depth of lived experience. It's easy to intellectualise pain you've never felt, or to discuss suffering in the abstract, and offer advice you have never had to follow. - @xygort
30 years on from a monumental day in @Arsenal's history โค๏ธ
On this day in 1996, Arsรจne Wenger was announced as Arsenal manager. He went on to become the most successful manager in FA Cup history with seven titles to his name ๐
โNo matter how isolated you are and how lonely you feel, if you do your work truly and conscientiously, unknown allies will come and seek you.โ
โ Carl Jung
A Bank Cannot Hide Behind โThat Wasnโt Our Customer.โ
In Mazuno Micheal Wilson v United Bank of Africa Ltd, Civil Suit No. 006 of 2024 [2026] UGHC 1030, the High Court at Mbale delivered a significant reminder on the scope of a bankโs duty of care.
The Plaintiffโs UGX 108,230,400 compensation was deposited into an account fraudulently opened in his name by an impostor. The bank failed to properly verify the impostorโs photograph and physical address, and the entire sum was subsequently withdrawn despite a daily withdrawal limit of UGX 15 million.
The Court held that the bank owed the Plaintiff a duty of care under the neighbour principle, even though he was not its direct customer.
โThe duty of care of a Bank can extend to third parties, where the Bankโs acts are negligent, fraudulent or against the law.โ
More importantly, the Court found that the bankโs failure to verify the identity and address of the account holder, coupled with its failure to act on obvious red flags surrounding the withdrawal, amounted to negligence and fraud.
The lesson for financial institutions is clear: KYC is not merely a regulatory box to tick. Where inadequate verification creates a foreseeable risk of harm to third parties, the bank may find itself legally accountable even to someone who never opened an account with it.