Bank of Scotland contract to extend

 By Tamiru Geda

 The Bank of Scotland that entered a contract with the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) two years ago for the consultation of the management is said to extend its contract for another six months after the contract terminates in early June 2005.

As information obtained from the bank, the Bank of Scotland has shown interest to consult CBE for free in the next six months. “This has come about due to positive responses it has been receiving from the management team of CBE,” said a close source. But the same source is doubtful that the Scottish bank would be interested to work for the bank without any charge. “We can say that the Scottish bank has a great interest to renew its contracts.” However, some observers reacted that top government officials, even the prime minister, should examine the issue so as to take the right decisions.

For almost two years, the Bank of Scotland has consulted CBE on eight different sectors: credit and risk management, finance and accounting, internal control systems, information technology management, human resources management, branch networking management, capacity building, and treasury management.

In related news, CBE has commenced its new strategy of restructuring its departments with a vision to give better and faster services to its customers. Based on the bank’s new strategy, the Public Relation office will be under the marketing and promotions department instead of its former head, the president of the bank. Accordingly the PR office of CBE is accountable for the promotion service. Whereas, the training and manpower planning department that used to be under the vice president’s office is now lowered and set to be administered by the vice general manager of the Human Resources Department.

The new business processing and reengineering office, the internal audit section that was a self-authoritative section, is now changed and is said to be administered by general managers of the bank’s branch offices. The new restructuring approach also aims to reduce the level of the bureaucracy in the bank’s service provision especially in regional offices.