Zemen Bank expects to pick a vendor in mid-September for the supply of interactive voice recognition (IVR), short message service (SMS), and mobile banking.

These technologies follow the launch of the first phase of its centralised, online, real-time, electronic (CORE) banking solutions on August 2, 2010. The bank is evaluating the technical proposals of five international vendors who have responded to a tender that it floated in June 2010.

The bank refuses to disclose the bidders, but all have local ventures, it says. Technical evaluations are now underway.

The announcement of the selected vendor is taking a longer time than initially intended, according to Melaku Kebede, vice-president of technology at the bank. This is due to the bank's information technology (IT) staff being fully engaged in the installation of the CORE banking system.

The bank has saved 3.5 million Br by undertaking the work of the installation using its own people, according to Melaku.

The bank had CORE banking, internet banking, and SMS banking when it opened its doors in October 2008, but the CORE banking did not fit with the interface system of the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) and the SMS banking only provided alert messages, Melaku said.

The bank expects to complete the second phase of the installation of the CORE banking system by the middle of August.

"Through the new system customers can access integrated systems, credit, trade, and finance accounting; manage their accounts; and have access to international banking facilities," said Melaku. "The system also supports anti-money laundering activities because the system registers withdrawals of money amounting to 200,000 Br or more and reports it to the NBE."

The new, full-scale system will be available after the supply and deployment of the new technologies of the vendor, which is yet to be selected.

The IVR system will allow customers to know their balance and contract status with the bank by dialling a number. SMS will allow the customers to transact, check their balances, and transfer funds. Mobile banking will enable customers to use banking services when and where there are no banking facilities available.

However, to complete the system, a kiosk must be available for cashing purposes, according to Melaku.

Zemen's new CORE banking system is based on Oracle's FLEXCUBE software.

Zemen Bank, which follows a one-branch model with multiple service points, announced an interest rate of 4.5pc on savings, more than 0.5 percentage points above the minimum set by the NBE, following its (unaudited) record net profits of around 46 million Br in the last fiscal year. Following that announcement, the bank's customers grew by 50pc to 4,500 with deposits totalling 800 million Br, according to Melaku.

The audit of the profits of Zemen, which was established with a paid-up capital of 150 million Br and 2,800 shareholders, is expected to be finalised at the end of next week, according to officials at the bank who wished to remain anonymous.