The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia has awarded its customers two apartments, three trucks, and 17 automobiles, and 34 three-wheelers. The customers who were awarded the prizes were part of the bank’s ‘save and get prizes’ initiative as well as customers who received remittances from its branches.
At the award ceremony President Abie Sano of the bank stressed the role of saving in mobilizing funds for investments. He also noted that the total saving of the bank has reached 670 billion ETB due to increased saving practices.
The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia is the biggest bank in Ethiopia with 1,624 branches across Ethiopia. This has proven beneficial to the nation according to Abie considering that over 90 percent of the finances for mega projects in the nation like the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam come from the bank.
Reports show that CBE has close to half market share in the overall banking industry of Ethiopia, which comprises 18 private banks and dozens of microfinance institutions.
During the previous budget year concluded commercial banks and the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE), the other state-owned bank, disbursed 164.5 billion Birr in loans a 42.5 percent higher than that of the year before. Of all the loans, about 60.8 percent was provided by private banks and 39.2 percent by the two state owned banks.