Borkena
Toronto – Ethiopia’s National Bank this week announced that it has licensed Standard Bank to open its Representative Office in Ethiopia.
“Following the revised proclamation, the licensing and supervision of REPOs now fall under NBE’s regulatory mandate. As part of this transition, NBE has begun re-licensing foreign bank representative offices that previously operated under licenses issued by the Ministry of Trade and Regional Integration, as well as reviewing new applications,” National Bank announced on Friday.
It was in June 2025 that the National Bank announced regulation to allow foreign banks to operate in the country.
There has been a resistance to it as domestic banks fear that they can not compete with them.
The private banking sector in the country is less than three decades old.
Even the biggest banks in the country, state-owned ones like Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, do not seem to be in a position to compete with established foreign banks like Standard Bank.
National Bank of Ethiopia says the representative offices serve as “commercial and liaison hubs for foreign banks, engaging in market research, relationship building, and promotional activities. They do not provide banking services or conduct financial transactions.”
Standard Bank has over 163 years of banking experience, operates in over 20 African Countries and has over 49,000 employees with 1000 branches and 18 million clients. The working capital is well over $35 billion.
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