Enat Shortlists Three for 25 million birr CORE Banking

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Enat Bank claims progress in its three month report, but declined to put a figure to it at a press conference it called at its headquarters along Guinea Conakry St at the Bambis area on Wednesday April 16, 2014, when it announced special interest rates for women and the progress of its core banking acquisition.

Women will benefit from a 5.5 pc interest rate starting from end of April, with the intent to empowering women, according to Birtukan G/Egzi vice president of the Bank, who chaired the briefing with the Bank’s president, Wondwossen Teshome. “Otherwise, the Bank could have set it at 5.2 pc, which would have helped it become more competent in the market,” she said.

The Bank has also announced that it has come down to the last three companies that could supply it with the CORE banking solution. Twenty had initially responded to its invitation five months ago, out of which Temenos, Oracle Financial Software, Infosys Technologies, Sopra Banking System, Infrasoft Technologies, Polaries Financial Technologies and Neptune Technology were selected within two months. Out of these seven, three have been identified, which the president and vice-president declined to disclose. The Bank will pick one of the three by June 2014, following site visit to banks where they have installed the technology.

Enat has earmarked a budget of 25 million Br for the core banking system and other related technologies like the network infrastructure, data centre and disaster recovery site and e-banking service, it was disclosed at the press conference.

The Bank expects implementation of the CORE banking system within six to nine months of awarding the contract to the winning company.

The Bank has so far opened 6,972 saving accounts. The number of accounts held by women is 4,044.

“Even though a large portion of the saving account is dominated by women, the amount of deposit in the Bank is still dominated by men,” Bertukan said. “We will work to rectify this and increase women’s share.”

The fourth quarter will see Enat opening a branch each in Adama, Bahir Dar, Hawassa and Mekelle,  in Oromia, Amhara, Southern and Tigray regional states, respectively, and one Dire Dawa.

Source: Addis Fortune