Coopbank has joined International Cooperative Alliance

July 24, 2020Uncategorized

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.

by Web Admin

What we are doing during the Covid -19 Outbreak

June 25, 2020News

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

 

by Biruk Hailu