Addis Abeba — The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) says transactions conducted through its digital banking platforms surpassed nine trillion birr in the first half of the 2025/26 fiscal year, accounting for nearly 88 percent of the bank's total transfers and payments.
The figures were disclosed during CBE's half-year performance review conference, where Wegayehu Gebremariam, Vice President for Strategic Planning and Transformation, presented the bank's six-month performance report.
According to Wegayehu, digital channels facilitated more than nine trillion birr in transactions during the reporting period, representing 87.9 percent of total banking transactions. He said CBE accounted for 73 percent of the country's total digital transactions and payments in the previous fiscal year, adding that current trends indicate the bank is likely to maintain its dominant position in Ethiopia's digital payments landscape by the end of the year.
Wegayehu attributed the performance to the growing adoption of digital banking services, which he said has improved customer access and efficiency across the bank's operations.
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In a separate half-year report, CBE announced that it recorded a gross profit of 36.19 billion birr during the period. The bank generated total income of 124.12 billion birr, achieving 107 percent of its six-month plan and registering a 56 percent increase compared to the same period last year.
Explanations provided at the conference attributed the income growth to ongoing national economic reforms, expansion in the scale of the financial sector, and the introduction of new operating procedures and revised tariffs.
The report also highlighted the performance of CBE Noor, the bank's interest-free banking service. Over the six-month period, CBE Noor disbursed more than 51 billion birr in financing and mobilized 63.05 billion birr in deposits, accounting for 19.1 percent of the 325.8 billion birr collected by the bank during the period. This exceeded the sector's six-month target by 13.4 percent and represented a 75.4 percent increase compared to the same period last year.
As a result, CBE Noor's total deposit balance increased from 193.3 billion birr at the end of June to 256.34 billion birr. Of the 2.39 billion US dollars mobilized by CBE in the first half of the fiscal year, CBE Noor contributed 202.3 million dollars, representing an 8.5 percent share and a 140.1 percent performance against plan.
The report further noted that of the 321 billion birr in total loans extended by CBE during the mid-budget year, 51.3 billion birr was disbursed through CBE Noor. The number of borrowing customers under the interest-free banking service rose from 4,583 at the end of June to 5,559, while loan repayments during the period amounted to 35.4 billion birr.
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Recently Addis Standard reported that the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) announced on 1 January 2025 that its total deposits have exceeded two trillion birr..
The bank said more than 325 billion birr was added in deposits during the first half of the 2025/26 fiscal year, pushing the total balance past the two-trillion-birr milestone.
Ephrem Mekuria, Vice President for Corporate Services and representative of the bank's president, noted that the deposit base had doubled in less than two years, attributing the growth to the implementation of CBE's 2030 Strategic Plan.
Likewise, the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), in partnership with local company StarPay Financial Services, has launched a digital wallet application, "CBE Connect," to facilitate the transfer of foreign currency into the country.
