Birhan Banks to double paid up capital

Birhan Bank plans to double its paid-up capital in the forthcoming general assembly, to catch up with adapt to change and aggressively compete in the financial sector. The bank achieved the target of its paid-up capital of 2 billion birr a year early than anticipated.
Birhan Bank marked their ten-year anniversary with the motto: “Fruitful Years, Bright Future” at the Ethiopian Airline Skylight Hotel on November 26, 2019, in the presence of the Central Bank governors, shareholders, and dignitaries from financial institutions.
“Increasing paid-up capital is top of the agenda in the coming general assembly as we are always striving to grow, compete and work in accordance with international standards,” Gumachew Kussie, Chairman of the Board of Directors said.
Abraham Alero, President of the Birhan Bank says they are improving the economy by financing economic activities, creating jobs and attracting hard currency.
So far, over 20 billion birr has been injected to the economy over the last ten years which has proven successful in creating indirect jobs via investment, in addition to the direct job opportunities, created for over 4,000 employees.
As part of being socially responsible, the bank participated worked on the Sherger beatification project adding that they plan to incorporate a business model with bettering society.
Birhan Bank also has paid over half a billion birr in profit tax into the national economy over the last 10 years. They stand first in the number of shareholders, and this has paid many dividends to the 15,000 shareholders.
Birhan was a pioneer in banking operations with a core banking system which has integrated the banking business with a central data base to improve customer service.
The bank also invested in ICT infrastructure at a cost of three million USD using an IBM equipped data center facility to take advantage of the digital economy.
“Modernizing ICT will be a priority so that as telecom technology catches up with the rest of the world we can provide more convenience for customers,” Kumachew adds.
The bank expanded to over 200 branches. They have total assets of 19.2 billion birr and 15 billion birr in deposits.
Established in 2009 with an authorized capital of 300 million birr, and paid-up capital of 95.7 million birr, the current paid-up capital has reached 2 billion birr and is expected to double during the upcoming general assembly expected to be held in the middle of next month.
During the occasion, the bank awarded certificates of appreciation to a dozen people for their contribution of 10 fruitful years.
As the National Bank figure indicates, as of June 2019, the total assets of the financial system were about 1.5 trillion-birr equivalent to the 70.2 percent of Ethiopia’s Gross Domestic Product.