2merkato

The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) introduced to banks on September 19, 2011a Swift Cheque Value Transfer, an interbank payment system, to ensure prompt exchange and transfer of cheques above 200, 000 birr.

The SWIFT cheque value transfer allows for the head offices of banks to use Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) in settling high value cheques within six hours.

“This is a good move on the part of NBE,” Anteneh Assefah, vice president of Abyssinia Bank, said. 

Dashen Bank launched electronic banking services for Union Card holders this week. This service is aimed to serve the increasing numbers of Union Card holders including the growing number of Chinese citizens in Ethiopia according to Lulseged Teferi President of Dashen Bank.

Dashen Bank is the first Bank in Africa to sign a partnership agreement with UnionPay said Lulseged. It is expected that agreement with UnionPay, which has over 2.5 billion clients worldwide, will significantly influence the growth of Dashen he explained.

The National Bank of Ethiopia announced plans to offer gold to the local market in the next few weeks. The bank will sell the gold at current international prices and an additional 0.5% service charge.

Goldsmiths and jewelers will be required to purchase raw gold from the central bank according to a directive issued by the Ministry of Mines. This is expected to curb other sources of gold.

The Development Bank of Ethiopia has earned 71.4 million birr in the first quarter of the fiscal year. The profit earned by the bank is 52% more than what it earned in the same period last year but 2 million birr less than its target.

The Development Bank also exceeded its target for loan approvals by approximately 1 billion birr in the last quarter. Loan approvals were especially concentrated in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors.

NIB Bank has announced a net profit of 246.4 million birr in the last fiscal year. The Ethiopian bank showed an increase of 22.7% from last year.

The total income generated by NIB was said to be 656.6 million with gross profits registered at 344.1 million according to a report from the bank. The gross profits showed and increase of 58.8 million over the last fiscal year.