By our staff reporter

High flying financial powerhouse, Dashen Bank, reveals during its 30th regular meeting that its earnings for the concluded fiscal year increased by five billion birr. Furthermore, the bank’s foreign exchange mobilization has increased by 44 percent to more than USD 1 billion.

According to the bank, the financial year that ended June 30, 2023, was one complimented with enormous accomplishments. As per the annual report presented at the shareholders’ meeting, the bank’s total assets grew by more than 25 percent a year to reach 144.6 billion birr from the previous valuation of 117 billion birr, a year ago.

Dashen, as of the reporting period has 835 branches, which has increased deposit mobilization by 26 percent, or by an additional 23.6 billion birr, to reach 115 billion birr as opposed to 91.2 billion birr from the previous year.

Savings accounted for 58.1 percent of the total deposit mobilization, followed by demand deposits at 35.8 percent. The bank saw a year-over-year rise of 22.2 billion birr, or more than 28 percent, in loans, advances, and interest-free banking (IFB) financing to reach 100 billion birr in outstanding balances.

According to the annual report, the bank’s microcredit plan through Telebirr has enabled 981 million birr throughout the course of the year.

A further 2.2 billion birr in deposits have been raised by the banks for IFB activities, bringing the total to 8.1 billion birr, a rise of more than 37 percent. As reports show, Dashen is one of the most prosperous financial companies in the IFB sector.

In addition, the IFB finance increased by two billion birr, or 64 percent, to reach an outstanding 5.2 billion birr. The bank’s revenue during the 2022–2023 fiscal year increased by 39 percent to close at 18 billion birr, while its expenses increased by 41.8 percent to a total of 12.9 billion birr.

Asfaw Alemu, the CEO of Dashen, pointed out that minimizing the cost-to-income ratio is one of the strategies in the five-year plan, which was created in partnership with McKinsey & Co. that began this fiscal year. “This will be accomplished by implementing an effective and scalable operating model that is bolstered by advancements in digital and technological expansions,” Asfaw asserted.

The bank’s gross profit before tax for the year was five billion birr, a 32% increase over the previous year’s 3.8 billion birr. In a same vein, earnings after taxes increased by 22.6 percent this year to 3.56 billion birr, up from 2.9 billion birr the previous year.

With over 11.2 billion birr in paid-up capital, equity has increased by over 34% to reach 19.3 billion birr. The bank did particularly well in the area of foreign exchange creation, mobilizing USD one billion, a gain of 43.7 percent compared with the same period of the financial year that closed June 2022.

According to Asfaw, his bank’s market share is comprised of 11 percent of total deposits mobilized, 12 percent of assets, 10 percent of share capital, and 11 percent of profit before taxes.

As data concurs, one of the top three private banks in terms of capital, assets, and earnings is Dashen, which was founded in 1995.

The bank was also at the forefront of digital banking and the introduction of contemporary financial plans to the nation. In order to speed up investment in the export of agricultural products, the bank recently became the first private bank to intermediate USD 40 million from British International Investment and Dutch FMO.