The under formation Amhara Bank S.C. announced that it has sold out of half a billion Br worth of shares in the last two months. "Even though we planned to sell the shares in three months, we were able to achieve our goal in just two months," said Melaku Fenta, chairperson for promoters of the bank. Until now, more than 15,000 shareholders bought the shares for establishing the bank. The shares have a par value of 1,000 Br. Shareholders can buy a minimum of 10 shares and a maximum of 100,000 shares. Currently, the shares are sold in 10 banks and the Amhara Saving & Credit Association. To establish a bank, an initial paid-up capital of half a billion Birr from a subscribed capital of one billion Birr, which is one million shares each valued at 1,000 Br, is mandated by the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE). In Ethiopia, the percentage of adults with bank accounts has increased from 22pc in 2014 to 35pc in 2017, according to the World Bank's Global Index database. In Kenya, by contrast, 82pc of adults had bank accounts in 2017.
