Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – July 12, 2024
The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) has announced an exceptional financial performance for the 2023/24 fiscal year, marking a significant milestone in the bank’s history. The bank’s total revenue reached 135.4 billion Birr, representing a 13% growth compared to the previous fiscal year. Furthermore, CBE recorded a pre-tax profit of 25.6 billion Birr, the highest in its history, thanks to effective cost-cutting strategies and turnaround efforts.
Significant Growth in Deposits and Customer Base
One of the key highlights of the fiscal year was the increase in total deposits, which surpassed 1.17 trillion Birr. The bank also experienced a notable rise in its customer base, exceeding 45 million customers. CBE provided more than 218 billion Birr in loans, with 91% (over 198 billion Birr) directed to the private sector. The bank’s total bad loan stock showed significant improvement, reaching 2.6% by the end of the year.
Reforms and Digital Transformation
The bank’s ongoing reforms, based on its five-year master plan, have been fruitful, significantly reducing bad loans and enhancing CBE’s reputation as a secure financial institution. Additionally, the number of transactions during the fiscal year exceeded 1.56 billion, with a total cash transfer of over 31.6 trillion Birr. Notably, 1.19 billion transactions (72%) were conducted through digital payment options, reflecting the bank’s focus on digital payment systems to provide convenient services for customers and expand new services swiftly.
Community Engagement and Social Responsibility
CBE has also demonstrated its commitment to social responsibility by engaging in extensive development and community support activities. The bank allocated a substantial budget for these initiatives, including supporting the Ethiopian Commercial Bank football team in qualifying for the Ethiopian Premier League Cup and contributing 23 million Birr to the “Clean Ethiopia” movement.
Resilience in the Face of Challenges
Despite facing numerous challenges during the fiscal year, CBE’s ability to overcome these obstacles and achieve high results highlights the bank’s resilience and strength. The bank successfully recovered 99.34% (796.6 million Birr) of the 801.4 million Birr affected by a system update issue on March 7, 2016, with ongoing efforts to recover the remaining 4.76 million Birr.
