Commercial Bank of Ethiopia has launched a new digital wallet application, CBE Connect, as the lender moves to simplify formal remittance flows into the country and expand its suite of app-based financial services.

The app, developed in partnership with StarPay Financial Solutions—a sister company of Eagle Lion Systems—is designed to allow users to send money across borders through regulated channels, positioning the bank to capture a larger share of diaspora inflows at a time when Ethiopia is pushing to formalize foreign-currency receipts.

According to information shared around the launch, CBE Connect enables users to send funds to Ethiopia through a digital wallet interface, with transfers framed as legal and streamlined. The bank says the app removes additional charges on transfers executed through the platform, a feature aimed at reducing the cost and friction traditionally associated with cross-border payments.

CBE Connect is positioned as more than a remittance tool. The app supports wallet functionality in local and foreign currencies and allows users to link accounts held at other banks, reflecting a broader industry shift toward interoperable digital finance rather than closed banking ecosystems. By allowing account aggregation, CBE is seeking to widen adoption beyond its own customer base and embed the app more deeply into everyday financial use.

The lender has also indicated that CBE Connect can be used as a gateway to selected retail credit products, including home and vehicle loans. While CBE already offers these facilities through its branch network and existing digital channels, integrating them into a wallet-based platform signals an effort to use mobile applications as a primary distribution channel for lending over time.

The launch comes as Ethiopian banks face growing competition from fintech firms and non-bank payment platforms, even as regulatory authorities encourage greater use of formal financial channels for remittances and domestic payments. For CBE, which dominates the country’s banking sector by assets and customer numbers, digital products such as CBE Connect are increasingly central to defending market share and modernizing service delivery.

Whether the app gains traction will likely depend on execution—particularly the speed of onboarding for users abroad, the transparency of foreign-exchange pricing, and the reliability of transfers at scale. Still, the rollout underscores how Ethiopia’s largest bank is repositioning itself as a platform provider in a rapidly digitizing financial system, rather than relying solely on its traditional branch-led model.