National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) approved Lion International Bank’s nominee for presidency, Getachew Solomon, a week after the latter submitted its request to the central bank.

Getachew has been Lion’s Acting President since Tuesday, September 1, 2014, following Negusu Gebregziabher departure from his position back in Thursday, August 28, 2014.

According to NBE’s Change Management and Communication Director, Alemayehu Kebede, Getachew’s approval took only a week because Lion submitted all relevant documents in time.

He furthered, “The nominee was also working as a vice president of the Bank so it was easy to know his background”.

Lion is the second bank to get its presidential nominee approved by the NBE following the wave that saw four banks’ presidents off their post. Debub Global Bank (DGB) was the first one to get the approval. On the other hand Bank of Abyssinia and Birhan International Bank are still being run by acting presidents.

Lion’s new president went to Mekelle University for his undergraduate studies and earned a Degree in accounting. He furthered his studies by going to Greenwich University, England, and earned a Masters of Business Administration.

Getachew has been working in the banking industry for the past 19 years. He started his career at Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) as a bank clerk and rose to corporate communication, branch manager and district manager. He spent the last year working as the vice president of Lion.

Lion International Bank was established back in October 2006 among 6,392 shareholders that managed to cumulate 200 Million Birr as a paid up capital and 432 Million Birr as authorized capital. This figure has now risen to 446.8 Million Birr and 627.8 Million Birr as paid up and authorized capital respectively.

Source: Fortune