CBE Suspends Current Accounts of All Private Banks

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) has suspended the current accounts held there by all private banks.

In an unprecedented move, its officials advised private banks to either withdraw their deposits or transfer them out of CBE’s Addis Abeba Branch.

In the absence of a central bank account for the commercial banks, CBE’s Addis Abeba Branch has been serving the industry as a central switch system.

The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) is in a bidding process to acquire a national switch system.

A letter of termination circulated to all private banks on Tuesday morning, September 17, 2013, signed by the branch’s manager, Woldemedhin Kidane, did not provide much of an explanation for the reason behind this move.

Source: AddisFortune.com