Early Ethiopian Banking History

02. The Bank of Abyssinia’s Bank Notes

We saw last week that the founding of Ethiopia’s first bank, the Bank of Abyssinia, in 1905, was followed, in 1915, by that institution’s issue of bank notes. This issue of paper money was something of a revolution in Ethiopian currency hisotry. The Bank of Abyssinia bank-notes took time to be accepted by the population …

01. Early Ethiopian Banking History

Ethiopian banking history, in its modern sense, began towards the end of the reign of Emperor Menilek. This period witnessed the establishment, as most readers will know, of the country’s first bank. Called the Bank of Abyssinia, or in Amharic “Ye-Ityopya Bank”, it was an affiliate of the National Bank of Egypt, and was founded …