2merkato

Premier Switch Solutions SC, a consortium of three private banks in Ethiopia, is ready to introduce electronic banking options through the use of 60 Automatic Teller Machines and 300 Point of Sale Machines.

The new scheme will allow customers of all three banks involved to make use of the electronic banking options as of the beginning of the next Ethiopian fiscal year.

Premier Switch will increase the number of ATM and POS machines in the coming year said Tsehay Shiferaw, Chief Executive of Awash International Bank, one of the stakeholders in the consortium.

The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) announced that the banking sector would be opened to foreign banks on a gradual process as a mechanism to cope with the possible challenges the opening of the financial sector would bring. According to Solomon Desta, NBE’s Financial Institutions Supervision Deputy Governor, the gradual opening of the sector will provide Ethiopia with the opportunity to learn and gain enough experience while local banks raise competitive capacity.

Ethiopian banks have improved their positions in the 2025 Africa Business Top 100 African Banks Report, showing steady progress in the country’s financial sector. Six Ethiopian banks are included in this year’s list, up from five in 2024 and only two in 2022.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) was eyeing Djibouti to open branches in the country. The Ministry also revealed that Siinqee Bank and Abyssinia Bank were on the verge of opening their branches in Djibouti.