Coopbank’s Transitional Head quarter Construction Well in Progress
Construction of Cooperative Bank of Oromia’s transitional headquarter, a 16-story building, which was started in the last fiscal year, is advancing as planned and is assumed to be complete in the coming year.
The transitional headquarters, which is underway around Bole Rwanda, in Addis Ababa(Finfinne) is being built by Chinese Contactor China Wu Yi Co. Ltd and Image consultancy PLC the consultant firm.
At the end of August 2020, the construction of the curtain wall is under progress, air ventilation and fire sprinkler system are also under progress while gypsum work has been completed.
This transitional headquarter building will house its own special branch in its lower floors while the Bank’s Head Office staff populates the upper floors
The bank is making the construction of multi-purpose building project at Waliso and Jimma and will continue constructing own buildings in various parts of the country
The bank expands IFB service from window-based to branches
Coopbank is currently increasing its number of Interest Free Banking branches to more than 13.
Since the country is home to a large number of Muslims, they are not are not interested in using common banking services for it’s not in line with the rules of their faith. With this in mind, the bank is opening Interest-Free Banking branches in various cities of the country.
Acquiring an adequate experience from different parts of the world, public and private banks in the country are providing this service to meet the needs of their customers. Likewise, Coopbank is also increasing its number of branches which was only available through one window previously.
The expansion of the branches will help to provide affordable service and satisfaction to its customers.
In addition, to meet the needs of its customers, it has facilitated the provision of digital banking services based on Sharia law by providing Halal ATM card and Coopay E-birr.
The bank is working hard to achieve its goals and be the pride of its customers.
Cooperative Bank of Oromia’s profit rose by 85.47pc to ETB 1.42 billion
Cooperative Bank of Oromia made a record operating profit of ETB 1.42 billion in the 2019/20 fiscal year, a rise of 85.47pc from the last fiscal year. It is the highest in the previous 15 years journey of the bank, making it the third most profitable private bank in the country. The earnings per share for the year became 47pc, up from the last fiscal year’s 36pc.
The bank attributed the impressing operating profit performance of during the period mainly to our effective revenue and expense management practices.
During the fiscal year, the bank was able to generate a revenue volume of ETB 5.74 billion, which grew by birr 2.03 billion compared to the same period the previous year, mainly attributed to the growth of the bank’s loans and advances as an interest income stood at ETB 4.16 billion, 72.4pc of total revenues.
Consolidated non-interest income generated was ETB 1.58 billion, which grew by 75.77pc from the last fiscal year. The bank mainly attributed to increased income of commission and service charge from Forex and IFB income.
Coopbank Set off New Strategy
Toward realization of its vision “To be the leading private bank in Ethiopia by 2025”, Coopbank has recently set off a new strategy.
Obbo Deribe Asfaw, President of the bank says that the last strategy period (2016-2020) laid a strong foundation for the bank’s journey towards its set vision.
According to the President, the new strategy which is planned to be implemented soon will not only hugely transform the bank, but also mobilizes the resources to move the country’s economy forward.
According to the bank’s president, another issue that the bank will focus on in this new strategic era is the creation of fixed asset. Amongst many, it is planned to start the construction of the bank’s head quarters next year in Finfinne and construction of several other buildings in major cities of the country, in particular.
On the other hand, “if, unexpectedly, a government’s economic policy introduces foreign financial institutions to the country’s financial market, the new strategy is said to help foresee the bank to move on track regardless of the expected stiff competition that follows. In line with this, the new strategy also takes into account the introduction of other local banks under formation and Islamic banks’ impact on Coopbank,” says Obbo Deribie.
He further adds, “another major focus of the strategy is an advancement of technological capability and the human resource development, which are believed to be the backbone in the advancement of the bank.
Coopbank has joined International Cooperative Alliance
The Cooperative Bank of Oromia has joined the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), an independent non-governmental organization representing co-operatives in the globe. The Alliance was founded in 1895, and its members are national and international co-operative organizations in all sectors of activity, including agriculture, banking, credit and saving, industry, insurance, fishing, social housing, health, public services, consumer services, and tourism. The main objective of the ICA is to promote and strengthen co-operatives all over the world. Furthermore, the alliance endeavors to encourage and defend the values and principles of the co-operative movement, stimulates mutually beneficial relations between its member
organizations and favors the economy and social progress of people.
We, Cooperative Bank of Oromia, are a bank established by the co-operative movement to play our share in delivering financial services to the unbanked and underbanked communities as well as to sustain the co-operative institutions. With about 67 percent of our shareholdings being held by co-operative societies, we have a unique operating model and value propositions for co-operatives. We are also one of the largest banks in the Ethiopian banking industry, with huge retail branch networks in rural areas. With these premises, the Bank placed a membership request to the alliance by fulfilling all the necessary evidence and conditions. Located in Brussels — Belgium, the Membership Committee of the ICA Board afterward agreed to admit our Bank as a member.
Becoming a member of the alliance will benefit the bank for global networking, for learning and adopting the latest best practices globally in cooperative movement, and for global representation and decision-making which enables us to take
part in the global decision-making process regarding the strategy of the international cooperative movement. Additionally,
the bank has also joined International Cooperative Banking Association (ICBA), an association representing cooperative financial institutions and cooperative banks, affiliated, to the ICA.
What we are doing during the Covid -19 Outbreak
Since the outbreak of a deadly disease, COVID-19, Cooperative Bank of Oromia has been undertaking various measures and hugely contributed to the efforts being made to combat its spread nationwide. Among many, inter alia,
Donation and Awareness Creation
- Donated ETB 5 million to the national committee established to combat COVID-19 via Ministry of Health.
- Donated ETB 3 million to the Oromia Regional State to help combat the virus.
- Temporarily gave its buildings to Oromia Regional State in Nekemte and Kuyu towns for this purpose to be used if the pandemic gets out of control.
- Created awareness on several media about the virus to the general public and all branches of the bank have been engaged on the awareness creation activities.
Employees of the Bank
- Procured and distributed to its branches and work units 26,000 facemasks that worth more than 3 Million and more than 4000 litres of sanitizer and alcohols worth about ETB 1 Million.
- Arranged a shift service for its staff so that only few people can stay at work units while others be at home.
- Provided different kinds of leave arrangement for its Staff:
- Paid Leave
- Advance Leave
- Vulnerability Leave – For pregnant women as well as employees who have compromised immunity.
- In the process of arranging Transportation services for the Staff living in Addis Ababa and major towns all over the country.
- Employees of the bank across the country are supporting the prevention activities in their respective localities both financially and voluntarily.
Preparations at branches
- Prepared hand washing materials and water at the gate of all the 416 branches of the bank.
- Enforced physical distancing of customers as they come to the branches to avoid the risk of infection to our customers.
Fees and Interest Rates
- Waived all fees from digital banking platforms including; ATMs, Coopay (Mobile Banking)
- Waived LC extension fees;
- Reduced Interest Rates, especially to the sectors largely hit by the pandemic. Interest rate reduction up to 4% has been made on the following sectors;
- Cooperatives
- Domestic Trade Service
- The Hotel Industry
- Manufacturing
- Agriculture
- Merchandise
- Vehicle Loan
- Building and Construction, Machinery
- Import
- Personal Loans/Mortgages
