liberalisation

Ethiopia, a new El Dorado for African bankers?

By Loza Seleshie

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Posted on December 6, 2022 16:38

View of Addis Ababa, September 2020. ©Michael Tewelde/Xinhua/REA

A market of more than 100 million inhabitants, where only one-third of those over 25 have a bank or mobile finance account (compared to an average of 58.5% in sub-Saharan Africa and 79.5% in neighbouring Kenya). An economy where one public institution, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), alone manages 55% of outstanding credit. A banking industry so inefficient that its costs absorb 56% of its revenues, but where the return on assets is four times higher than that of Moroccan banks…

Long closed to foreign players, the Ethiopian banking sector is undoubtedly one of the most interesting for investors and banking institutions active in Africa.

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