The national switch operator has reported 221 million Br in gross profit, registering a growth of 153pc from last year’s performance. Executives EthSwitch S.C., an industry-wide payment clearing house, attributed the result to prudent expense management and a notable increase in total revenues. The company has generated 329.8 million Br in revenues, not only doubling its target. It also recorded an 84pc increase from last year’s performance, facilitating transactions worth 171 million Br. The interconnection protocol facilitated by EthSwitch is close to 40 million interoperable ATM transactions worth 44 billion Br processed.  Several commercial banks and the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) established the company in 2010, with 80 million Br capital and operationalised it in 2015. EthSwitch provides a domestic card scheme with Ethiopay ATM card services co-branding with banks. It has partnered with nearly a dozen banks, enabling customers to issue transactions from any bank. It has provided 301,293 Ethiopay cards and PIN personalisation services, showing an increase of seven percent. Chaired by Solomon Desta, a national bank representative, EthSwitch expects the service to expand rapidly as new banks join the industry. With commercial banks participating in the Post-of-Sale (POS) interoperability service as both acquirers and issuers, transactions accounted for close to 16pc of the total 2.3 million worth 62.18 billion Br. It has climbed to 230pc compared to the last fiscal year. According to the management, under Yilebes Addis, Ethswitch is currently working with several payment alliances, including Visa, and Union Pay International (UPI), enabling it to connect to international payment networks and card acquiring.

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