Top Trading News

The Ethiopian government has legalized a mobile and agent banking regulatory framework to permit the country's banks and microfinance institutions to offer various financial services through the use of mobile devices and agents as delivery channels effective 1 January 2013. The development represents a significant effort to bring the current financial service accessibility level to a better position in Ethiopia, and is considered an important step that moves Alliance for...

With assets reaching the US$ 1 trillion, the growth of Islamic finance can no longer be ignored. It has outperformed conventional finance, expanding fourfold over the past three years. Many experts have even wondered whether the global financial crisis could have been averted by a financial system based on Shari’a principles. This is an interesting scenario to consider: had the Islamic principles of full transparency and disclosure, fairness towards the...

Steep rental fees are making it tough for prominent and fast-growing private banks to expand their enterprise. Strict regulations and increasing rental fees highlight the difficulty that private banks face in trying to grow the number of branches they operate throughout the country. EBR’s Samson Hailu explores the reasons why this problem has come about and what should be done to solve it. The banking industry in Ethiopia has been...

Although expanding access to commercial credit is a key ingredient of development strategies, private businesses in Ethiopia find it increasingly difficult to access loans.  As a result, starting new businesses or expanding existing ones is becoming an out of reach issue. The situation is pushing businesses aspiring expansions to look for other options of financing. Capital injection in the form of bringing new shareholders, loaning from families and friends are...

According to a study done by Wiki Wealth Capital, an American based Management institute, financial leverage, economics of scale and new services and technologies among others are the strengths and opportunities of Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), while high staff turnover along with work inefficiencies and other macroeconomic issues are identified as its weaknesses and threats. Employment turnover, especially for mid-level and upper level managers, is not only the challenge...

Many Ethiopian migrants, who send money for their relatives and families from abroad, previously paid an average of 12 Pct of the remitted amount for the money transferring agents.  Sending remittances to Ethiopia, which is one of the top 10 remittance receiving countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, has been costly though the amount varies depending on the remitted amount, the service chosen and the destination. The cost of a money transfer...