Country:
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Client:
National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE)
Assignment Title:
Design, Development, and Implementation of a Financial Transaction Data Exchange Platform with Integrated Anomaly Detection and Analytics System
Selection Method:
Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS)
Procurement Reference No.: NBE/ICB/REOI/G/01/2026
1. Background
The National Bank is undertaking a strategic initiative to strengthen its oversight, monitoring, and analytical capabilities across the financial market. As the central monetary and regulatory authority, the Bank has a mandate to safeguard financial market integrity, enhance transparency, and detect irregular, abusive, or illicit activities that may undermine macroeconomic stability and financial system confidence.
In recent years, the increasing volume, velocity, and complexity of transactions across commercial banks, trade and customs systems, remittance channels, and other financial intermediaries have created significant challenges for effective supervision and oversight. Data is currently fragmented across multiple institutions and systems, limiting the Bank’s ability to obtain a consolidated, timely, and holistic view of market activity. These data silos reduce the effectiveness of traditional monitoring approaches and constrain proactive risk identification.
To address these challenges, the National Bank intends to establish a centralized Financial transaction Data Exchange Platform integrated and advanced anomaly detection, analytics, and investigation capabilities. The envisioned solution will consolidate financial data from all participating institutions into a single, governed platform and apply modern data engineering, graph analytics, alerts and machine learning techniques to detect suspicious patterns, abnormal behaviors, and emerging systemic risks that may not be visible through conventional rule-based methods.
This initiative represents a transition from fragmented, retrospective analysis toward a near real-time/real-time, data-driven supervisory model. The solution is expected to support both operational investigators and senior leadership by providing intuitive investigative tools, consolidated case views, and executive dashboards that enable informed decision-making and timely regulatory intervention.
Accordingly, the National Bank is issuing this Request for Expressions of Interest (REOI) to identify qualified and experienced vendors with proven capability in regulatory data platforms, financial crime analytics, FX monitoring, and large-scale on-premise deployments. The purpose of this REOI is to assess market capability, solution maturity, and delivery readiness ahead of a potential formal procurement process. Participation in this REOI does not constitute a commitment to proceed with a tender but will inform the Bank’s subsequent procurement strategy.
2. Objective of the Assignment
The objective of this assignment is to design, develop, and deploy a full-scale, production-grade Financial Transaction Data Exchange Platform and integrated anomaly detection, analytics, alert and reporting capabilities that will:
- Consolidate transactional data from all relevant institutions into a unified repository
- Enable advanced analytics and machine-learning-driven detection of anomalous and illicit financial activities
- Provide investigators, analysts, and senior management with actionable insights and alerts through intuitive dashboards
- Strengthen NBE’s regulatory oversight, financial integrity monitoring, and decision-making capabilities
The objective of this implementation is to establish a centralized, secure, and production-grade Financial Transaction Data Exchange and Anomaly Detection Platform that enables the National Bank to obtain a consolidated, timely, and accurate view of finacial transactions across the financial sector. The solution aims to strengthen regulatory oversight, enhance financial market integrity, and support proactive identification and investigation of abnormal, suspicious, or illicit financial activities.
Specifically, the implementation seeks to eliminate data fragmentation by aggregating data from all participating banks and relevant institutions into a single governed platform, supported by robust data ingestion, standardization, and quality controls. By applying advanced analytics, graph-based relationship modeling, and machine-learning-driven anomaly detection, the system will enable the Bank to detect complex transaction patterns and emerging risks that are not easily identifiable through traditional monitoring methods.
The solution is also intended to support operational efficiency and informed decision-making by providing investigative analytics tools for analysts and compliance teams, as well as executive dashboards for senior management. These capabilities will allow users to visualize networks, investigate cases, monitor system performance, and track financial market risks in near real time. Ultimately, the implementation aims to enhance the Bank’s supervisory effectiveness, improve regulatory responsiveness, and lay a scalable foundation for future data-driven supervision and advanced analytics initiatives.
2.1. Specific Objectives
The specific objectives of this implementation are to:
- Centralize Financial Transaction Data
Establish a unified Data Exchange Platform that consolidates transactional data from all banks and relevant sources into a single, governed repository. - Improve Data Quality and Governance
Enforce standardized data models, validation rules, and transformation processes to ensure consistency, accuracy, and reliability of financial data. - Enable Advanced Anomaly Detection
Deploy machine-learning and graph-analytics-based detection capabilities to identify abnormal transactions, networks, and systemic risk patterns with reduced false positives. - Enhance Investigative Capabilities
Provide analysts and investigators with intuitive tools for visualization, case management, and deep transaction analysis through a unified investigative interface. - Strengthen Executive Oversight
Deliver executive dashboards offering high-level insights, trends, and performance metrics to support strategic supervision and regulatory decision-making. - Support Near Real-Time Monitoring
Enable timely ingestion, analysis, and visualization of transaction data to improve responsiveness to emerging risks and market anomalies. - Ensure Production Readiness and Scalability
Implement a robust, secure, and scalable on-premise solution suitable for nationwide deployment and long-term operational use. - Lay the Foundation for Future Analytics
Establish an extensible data and analytics architecture that can support future big data, AI, and advanced supervisory analytics initiatives.
The assignment is intended as a full production implementation, not a proof-of-concept.
3. Scope of the Assignment
The scope of work includes, but is not limited to, the following components:
3.1 Financial Transaction Data Exchange Platform
Design and implement a secure, interoperable platform to aggregate data from all commercial banks and other relevant systems into a centralized repository. The platform shall enforce strong data governance, standardization, validation, and timestamping to ensure data quality and integrity.
3.2 Data Ingestion and ETL Integration
Develop robust, automated ETL pipelines capable of ingesting both batch and real-time data through secure APIs, message queues, and SFTP mechanisms. The system shall cleanse, standardize, and harmonize heterogeneous data formats into a common data model.
3.3 Anomaly Detection Engine
Implement advanced analytics leveraging machine learning, graph analytics, and link analysis to detect anomalous all transaction patterns at micro and macro levels. The system shall support continuous learning based on analyst feedback to improve detection accuracy and reduce false positives.
3.4 Analytics Dashboards and Reporting
Develop investigative dashboards for analysts and investigators, including link analysis, timelines, and drill-down capabilities, as well as executive dashboards providing high-level metrics, trends, and risk indicators. The solution shall support reporting, alerting, and case management workflows.
4. Implementation Approach
The assignment shall be delivered as a fully integrated, production-ready solution, covering:
- End-to-end system integration
- Comprehensive testing and validation
- Nationwide readiness for all participating institutions
- Support for go-live and operational handover
The solution must be scalable, resilient, secure, and suitable for long-term regulatory use.
5. Technology and Deployment Requirements
- Deployment Model: Fully on-premise deployment within NBE infrastructure
- Architecture: Modular, scalable, and vendor-neutral
- Technology Stack: Preference for open standards, open APIs, and open-source components where feasible
- Integration: Secure APIs, Automatic message queues, and SFTP-based ingestion mechanisms
- Security: Compliance with industry best practices for encryption, access control with multifactor authentication, and data protection
6. Data Integration Responsibilities
- NBE and participant institutions will provide access to raw data
- The selected vendor will be fully responsible for data cleansing, transformation, standardization, and loading
- Custom transformation rules shall be developed to harmonize institution-specific data formats
7. Vendor Eligibility and Qualification Requirements
Interested firms must demonstrate the following:
7.1 Domain Experience (Mandatory)
- Proven experience in transaction and communication anomaly detection, actor behavior analysis, CTF, FX monitoring, financial crime analytics, or regulatory supervision
- At least two (2) comparable deployments in central banks, FIUs, or regulatory institutions
7.2 Geographic and Contextual Experience (Preferred)
- Experience in African or comparable emerging-market environments
- Familiarity with heterogeneous banking systems and on-premise regulatory environments
7.3 Delivery Speed and Readiness (Mandatory)
- Proven ability to deliver production-ready systems within short implementation timelines
- Use of mature, non-experimental components
7.4 On-Premise Deployment Capability (Mandatory)
- Demonstrated capability to deploy and support solutions in sovereign, regulator-hosted environments
7.5 Big Data and Scalability Readiness (Mandatory)
- Ability to process high-volume and high-velocity data
- Compatibility with future big data, AI, and analytics platforms
7.6 Sustainability and Knowledge Transfer (Mandatory)
- Structured knowledge transfer and training for NBE staff
- Comprehensive documentation and handover
- Avoidance of long-term vendor dependency
8. Conflict of Interest
Interested firms shall disclose any actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest. Firms with undisclosed conflicts may be disqualified in accordance with applicable procurement policies.
9. Submission Requirements
Interested firms shall submit:
- Company profile and legal registration documents
- Summary of relevant experience and comparable assignments
- Description of proposed technical approach and implementation readiness
- Any additional information demonstrating capability to deliver the assignment
EOIs shall be submitted in English, in both hard and soft copy, duly signed and stamped by authorized personnel.
10. Selection Method
Shortlisting and subsequent selection shall be conducted in accordance with the National Bank of Ethiopia Procurement Manual, using a Quality and Cost Based Selection (QCBS) method.
| No. | Description | Weight (100%) |
| 1 | Specific experience | 60% |
| 1.1 | Bidder must submit at least five certificates of satisfactory execution of contracts related to the assignment provided by contracting parties to the course of the last five (5) years | 40 |
| 1.2 | Bidders must submit previous work experience in Implementation of a Data Exchange Platform with Integrated Anomaly Detection and Analytics System for Central Banks for financial institutions. | 20 |
| 2 | General experience | 30% |
| 2.1 | >5 years’ experience | 30 |
| 2.2 | 4-5 years’ experience | 25 |
| 2.3 | 2-3 years’ experience | 20 |
| 2.4 | <2 years’ experience | 15 |
| 3 | Clarity of the proposal/EOIs | 10% |
Documents required from applicants
- Certified copy of valid registered VAT or equivalent.
- Certified copy of valid tax identification Number (TIN);
- Renewed trade license for this fiscal year;
- Valid Tax clearance certificate.
The final selection of the organization to conduct the study shall be based on a quality-and cost-based selection (QCBS) method through request for proposals.
On all pages of the EOI proposal document, the organization’s stamp should be sealed near the authorized signatory, and all pages should be numbered, dated, signed, and stamped. The application must be signed by an authorized individual. Additional sheets that the applicant must attach should be numbered and submitted as a package with a signed letter. The applicant may provide any additional information he or she believes is necessary to demonstrate his or her ability to perform the proposed system.
- The Expressions of interest (EOIs) and all documentations shall be submitted in English, one original and one copy (in hard and softcopy) having been signed on each page by authorized personnel and delivered to the address below on or before February 12, 2025 until 4:00 PM in the Afternoon. The Applications will be opened on February 13, 2025 at 10:30 Am in the morning at the Office of National Bank of Ethiopia. Documents received after the deadline will not be considered valid and will be returned unopened.
- The Employer reserves the right to accept any part of or all applications and the right to reject any part or all applications.
- Late submissions shall be rejected.
- The following addresses is for processing activities such as for issuance of documents and/or for clarification regarding the invitation.
Attention: Procurement Services Management Directorate
National Bank of Ethiopia
P. O. Box. 5550
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Interested and eligible applicants may obtain further information from the Procurement Services Management Directorate with the following telephone and e-mail addresses.
Tel. +251-11- 517-5167, +251-11- 517-5165, +251-11- 517-5162/5161
E-mail: psmd@nbe.gov.et
