Private Banks' Subscribed Capital Hits 74b Br Mark

Nov 20 , 2021

The aggregate subscribed capital of private commercial banks has surpassed 74 billion Br, a 33pc increase from the previous year. According to a report released by the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), the capital of private and state-owned banks combined has reached 153.7 billion Br. Of this, the Commerical Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) accounts for 32pc, followed by the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE), whose capital saw a jump to 29.2 billion Br from 7.7 billion Br registered in the third quarter of the previous fiscal year. Among private banks, Awash Bank leads its peers with 11 billion Br in subscribed capital. Dashen and the Bank of Abyssinia follow with close to seven billion Birr each. Banks have been rushing to float shares internally and to the public following a directive issued by the central bank earlier this year, obligating them to raise their paid-up capital to five billion Birr. Only six of the 17 operational private commercial banks have met the threshold thus far, while several are yet to reach the halfway point. Addis International Bank has the lowest capital among them, with 1.3 billion Br. Debub Global and Enat banks are not far ahead.