With a signed capital of over 2.1 billion birr and the paid capital of 636,084,430 birr, Rammis, a local private bank based on Sharia Principles, today officially joined the Ethiopian Banking sector.
The Bank has secured operational license from the National Bank of Ethiopia. “The name Rammis refers to the name of the river found in the Eastern part of Ethiopia,” said Mr. Ali Ahmed, CEO of the Rammis Bank. He made the statement at a press conference held at Ellily International Hotel in the capital Addis Ababa.
He added that they have been striving to organize, recruit staff, develop policy and procedures, including opening of branch offices in order to introduce a complete interest-free banking service based on Sharia principles.
Mr. Ali said that the Bank is founded under the ownership of over 8,000 shareholders and already bought its own headquarter building located around Bole road, which will be inaugurated by high government officials on the coming Sunday.
Abduljawad Mohammed, Board Chairman of the Rammis Bank also briefed about the reason for the establishment of the Bank, said: “There is a gap in accessibility and inclusiveness in the Ethiopian Banking sector including the issue of interest-free banking service; and to create a positive impact, improve societal wellbeing, and to narrow the gap between the haves and have-nots”.
The Bank also stated on its press release that it has implemented the state-of-the-art art core banking system that is compatible with AAOIFI, Sharia Financial Accounting Standard known as, iMal. And the core banking system is procured from AZENTIO Company based in Singapore.
Emphasizing on the existing gap in accessibility and inclusiveness in the Ethiopian banking sector, CEO Ali Ahmad said that out of Ethiopia’s projected population of around 120 million, about 40% is under banked,.
He also added that Ramis is the fourth Bank that provides such service as Sharia based interest-free banking service in Ethiopia. According to the press release, Rammis Bank set a vision of becoming a center of a complete Sharia based interest-free banking system in Eastern Africa.
To realize this vision and digital transformation of sustainable business, the new bank has started its operation with the Finfinee branch in Addis Ababa. Rammis is preparing to increase the number of its branches to 50 within a few months around different areas in the country.