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Zemen Bank reports a 33 percent increase in after-tax profits and

delivers a 36.7 percent earnings per share return to shareholders

·         Revenues and Profits reach highest levels since the Bank’s founding

·         Assets up 34 percent, Deposits up 44 percent, Loans up 33 percent

·         Earnings per share averages 40 percent per year over the past five years

(December 8, 2016) Zemen Bank announces today that it earned a pre-tax profit of Birr 270 million in the 2015-16 fiscal year based on audited financial results.  After-tax profits reached Birr 203 million compared to Birr 153 million last year, equivalent to a growth rate of 33 percent.  With these financial results, the Bank provided its shareholders with earnings per share of 36.7 percent in FY 2015/16.  The Bank continued its record of delivering strong to its shareholders, as seen from the five-year average earnings per share return of 40 percent per year. The Bank’s financial results in 2015-16 reflected a macro-economic setting that presented a mix of opportunities and challenges.  The demand for banking services—especially loans—remained high even though Ethiopia’s economic growth during 2015/16 was 8 percent (according World Bank’s economic update) compared to 10.2 Percent during the previous year.

July 6 (Bloomberg) -- Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau, the German development bank, agreed to provide 6 million euros ($7.6 million) to help develop Ethiopia's microfinance industry. The lender, known as KfW, signed an agreement today with Zemen Bank and is in talks with three other banks about joining the initiative, Ronald Steyer, director of KfW's Ethiopian operations, told reporters today in the capital, Addis Ababa.

Under terms of the accord, KfW will provide 4.5 million euros as loan guarantees for commercial banks to lend to microfinance institutions, and spend 1.5 million euros providing technical assistance to lenders.

"The deal will play a meaningful role toward economic development in Ethiopia as it will address the major obstacle of access to finance," Steyer said.

Ethiopia has 30 microfinance institutions that offer loans averaging 1,500 birr ($110) to about 2 million customers at interest rates of 12.5 percent to 25 percent, according to CapitaLink, an Addis Ababa-based facility backed by the German government.