Cooperative Bank of Oromia inaugurated two full-fledged interest-free banking (IFB) branches in the capital at Ayer Tena and Bole Michael on December 18, 2019. The Bank, which has 389 branches, becomes the third to open a full-fledged interest-free branch next to Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) and Awash Bank. CBE inaugurated the first full-fledged IFB branch around Bole Michael on September 7, 2019. It also opened four more full-fledged IFB branches in September and October. Awash Bank started IFB services with its new branch dubbed "Ikhlas" in Bethel area. In 2013 the National Bank of Ethiopia issued the directive that limited IFB to a window service. Following that, 11 of the 17 private and state-owned banks had been providing the service. However, last June, the National Bank of Ethiopia issued the directive for the establishment of full-fledged interest-free banking (IFB), on June 18, 2019. Cooperative Bank generated 3.7 billion Br in income last year and disbursed a total of 24.4 billion Br in loans and advances.

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