# Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE)

> Source: https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/cbe-ethiopia
> research date 2026-05-30 · extracted at 2026-10-07
> Publisher: Barcoder — encyclopedia of QR, barcode and payment-code standards

Specifications:
- [CBE — official](https://www.combanketh.et/)

## Key details

- **Users:** 47M customers

## Overview

**Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE)** is **Ethiopia's largest commercial bank by assets + 60%+ Ethiopian banking market share** + **Ethiopian government PFEA fully owned** + **state monopoly heritage pre-1994 banking liberalization** + **~47M customers** + **CBE Mobile Banking + CBE Birr** <sup>[1][1], [Ethiopia report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/ET)</sup>. **2025 baseline**: CBE Ethiopia's largest commercial bank by assets + 60%+ Ethiopian banking market share + Ethiopian government PFEA fully owned + ~47M customers.

## History

**1942 — State Bank of Ethiopia founded by Emperor Haile Selassie** distinctive Ethiopian banking heritage.

**1963 — State Bank of Ethiopia split into Commercial Bank of Ethiopia CBE (commercial banking) + National Bank of Ethiopia NBE (central bank)** distinctive Ethiopian banking restructuring.

**1994 — Ethiopian banking sector liberalization + CBE remains Ethiopia's dominant state-owned commercial bank by assets** distinctive Ethiopian banking liberalization.

**2018 — CBE Mobile Banking + CBE Birr launch** distinctive Ethiopian mobile banking + mobile money strategy.

**2024 — CBE app glitch crisis post-network outage + customer ATM withdrawal limits + Ethiopian banking regulatory tightening**.

## Ownership & operator

**Operating entity**: **Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE)** (Ethiopia's largest commercial bank by assets + 60%+ Ethiopian banking market share; Ethiopian government Public Financial Enterprises Agency PFEA fully owned).

**Major shareholders**: **Ethiopian government (Public Financial Enterprises Agency PFEA) fully owned + state monopoly heritage pre-1994 banking liberalization**.

**Regulators**: **NBE (National Bank of Ethiopia)**.

## Technical integration

CBE Mobile Banking app (iOS + Android; ~47M customers) + CBE Birr mobile money + combanketh.et online + CBE branch network across Ethiopia (largest in country) + CBE Visa + Mastercard + Ethiopay cards; EthSwitch (Ethiopian national switch + interbank network) + EthPay (Ethiopian payment standard).

## Implementations & partners

**Major Ethiopian banking + payments competitors**: Awash Bank (Awash Bank Ethiopia's largest private commercial bank by assets + Awash Mobile banking) + Dashen Bank (Dashen Bank Ethiopian private commercial bank + Amole mobile money) + Bank of Abyssinia (Bank of Abyssinia Ethiopian private commercial bank) + CBE Birr (CBE Birr Ethiopian mobile money by CBE) + [telebirr](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/wallets/telebirr) (Telebirr Ethio Telecom mobile money; Ethiopia's largest mobile money platform; ~45M users) + M-Birr (M-Birr Ethiopian mobile money) + HelloCash (HelloCash Ethiopian mobile money + Somaliland operations) + Bunna Bank (Bunna Bank Ethiopian private commercial bank) + Zemen Bank (Zemen Bank Ethiopian private commercial bank + digital-first focus).

**Regulator**: NBE.

## Status

**Active, Ethiopia's largest commercial bank by assets + 60%+ Ethiopian banking market share + Ethiopian government PFEA fully owned + ~47M customers** <sup>[1][1], [2][2]</sup>:
- **Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE)** since 1942 State Bank of Ethiopia founding by Emperor Haile Selassie + 1963 State Bank of Ethiopia split into CBE + NBE central bank + 1994 Ethiopian banking sector liberalization + CBE remains Ethiopia's dominant state-owned commercial bank by assets + 2018 CBE Mobile Banking + CBE Birr launch.
- **NBE regulated**.

## Sources

[1]: https://www.combanketh.et/ "CBE — official"
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commercial_Bank_of_Ethiopia "Commercial Bank of Ethiopia — Wikipedia"
[et-cro]: https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/ET

- [1] [CBE — official][1]
- [2] [Commercial Bank of Ethiopia — Wikipedia][2]
- <sup>[Ethiopia report](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/payments/ET)</sup> In-corpus: `reports/countries/ET-ethiopia.md`

## Source

Biography extracted from [cbe-ethiopia.md](https://docs.barcoder.ai/source/wallets/cbe-ethiopia). See `matrix.md` for standards-support matrix if present.