Rammis Bank, the fourth full-fledged interest free banking (IFB) entrant discloses that it will house dual head quarters at the heart of the Capital and Dire Dawa.
The bank which officially inaugurates its doors today in Addis Ababa at the Bole Flamingo area affirmed that it will have two headquarters, with the other situated at Dire Dawa, 500km east of Addis Ababa.
Rammis, which gained solid ground after successful mobilization of over 2.1 billion birr in subscribed capital and 636 million birr in paid up capital, cited that despite several ups and downs in its formation process it has successfully overcome all hurdles faced to commence operation.
“During the formation process we faced several challenges including COVID 19 and security issues but now we are ready to provide pivotal services for the community,” stated Abduljewad Mohammed, Chairperson of Board of Directors, in a press conference held on Thursday June 1.
According to Abduljewad, Rammis will be one of the key players in the sphere of financial inclusion and fair distribution on resources.
Ali Ahmed, President of Rammis Bank, echoed similar sentiments and underscored that prior to the bank’s operation commencement, the bank was equipped with a core banking system solid enough to allow it to penetrate the market and expand its branches with ease.
He said that the Singaporean iMal Core Banking technology which is suitable for AAOIFI’s, a leading standard-setter for the international Islamic finance industry, was the standard that the bank followed.
“The core banking system that we installed is developed by Azentio and it is unique for Ethiopia since it accommodates a sharia compliant system as per the international standard in the sector,” stated Abduljewad whilst pointing out the merit of the system.
He said that one of the challenges on IFB business in Ethiopia is the inability to fully maximize on operations in the sector to which he underlined that the new system will equip Rammis to seamlessly provide financing products to its customers.
The Board Chairperson reminded that in the IFB scheme significant amount of resources had been mobilized with some gaps still persisting. To this end, he cited that his bank will look forward to bridge this financing gap.
“We will focus on introducing creative products and youth job creation and entrepreneurship will be a priority on our operation,” Abduljewad explained while signaling that agriculture will be a major pillar for the bank.
“We are starting our operation with our owned building that we bought at the heart of the city in front of Oromia region president office,” the President said.
“Our coming to the financial frame will provide additional alternatives to financial inclusion and services on sharia based scheme. We are also targeting to play our part in the digital financial system,” Ali explained.
In a statement, the bank issued that the purchase of its nine story building will ease the expense that the bank may have had to incur on rent for the headquarters.
Regarding its future ambitions, the management stated that it has set a strategy to attain the target it set.
Rammis has over 8,000 shareholders and targets to open 50 branches in the coming few months.
