The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), a government-owned financial institution, warns other banks about their dependency on CBE’s stability. It urges them to refrain from engaging in illicit activities affecting the industry without directly naming anyone. CBE’s president, Abie Sano, emphasizes that other banks’ survival is tied to CBE’s, stating that “the loss of CBE will be a loss for the country.” He also addresses a recent system malfunction on March 15, 2024, where a significant amount of money was lost due to a glitch, affecting mainly university students.
Despite recovering a portion of the lost funds, CBE expects reimbursement from those involved in the unauthorized withdrawals. Over 9,000 individuals have returned the money, while others have been publicly identified for failing to do so. The bank aims to resolve the issue by March 30th. CBE, established in 1963, dominates half of the banking market with 40 million account holders and assets exceeding 1.3 trillion birr, reporting a net income of over 17.4 billion birr in the 2022/23 financial year.
