Debub Global Bank is set to enter the banking sector in Ethiopia as the 15th private bank after receiving a license from the National bank and a trade permit from the Addis Ababa Trade Bureau at the end of the month.
The bank expects to launch operations in July with two branches in Addis Ababa and one each in Hosanna and Hawassa according to Workku Lemma President of Debub. It is currently in the process of setting up offices, seeking companies to provide IT services and CORE banking solutions in particular as well as hiring staff.
The bank will require a commencement letter from the central bank which will conduct a field inspection to affirm that it is ready to begin operations.
Debub Global floated shares for the first time in 2009 and has amongst its founders notable veterans of the financial sector such as Tilahun Abay, one of the longest serving presidents of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and political figures such as Abate Kisho, who had served as a President of the Southern Regional State.The bank held its first shareholders meeting in September of 2010 after raising 266 million birr in capital from 5,481 shareholders and submitted its nominees for the board of directors to the central bank a couple of months later.
This move, which established it as a bank, helped Debub to escape the central bank directive that raised the minimum paid-up capital for banks under formation to 500 million birr from 75 million.
The central bank approved seven nominees that Debub submitted for the board in October 2011.
Source: Addis Fortune
