Under the terms of the agreement, IBM will provide hardware, software and IT services to support the bank in its business growth and its shift from manual financial processes to real-time financial services.
With the new IT infrastructure, the bank plans to increase its number of accounts by 25% per year, launch 200 new ATMs per year and open 500 new branches over the next five years.
CBE president Bekalu Zeleke said the Ethiopian banking sector is currently going through a major and rapid program of modernization and the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia is at the center of that work.
"We have turned to IBM to help underpin our bank’s transformation and provide the foundations for the further roll out of modern banking services for the benefit of our two million account holders across the country," Zeleke said.
IBM said the new IT infrastructure, which will be operational by August, is based on IBM Power Systems, IBM DS8800 disk storage system, IBM Tivoli and WebSphere software.
As part of the agreement, IBM will also providing implementation and maintenance services as well as training for the bank’s staff.
