Abay Mehari, a former vice president at the state owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), has been approved as Wegagen Bank’s new President, replacing Arega G. Egziyabher, the bank’s longest serving chief.
Regulators at the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) have accepted Abay’s appointment last week. A former Chief Credit Officer at the CBE, Abay has assumed his new responsibilities at the Wegagen as of last Friday, February 1, 2019. He is the fourth president since the establishment of the Bank. Kidane Nikodimos and Hadgu Hailu were his earliest predecessors. His immediate predecessor, Araya, has served the Bank as a president for the past 13 years, where the Bank earned the fourth rank in the private banking industry.
In his watch, Wegagen grew to beef up its total capital to 2.8 billion Br, from 30 million Br it raised when it was first established in 1997. Its total asset picked to reach at 21.1 billion Br, and deposit mobilization was at 15.5 billion Br. These put the Bank as the nation’s largest private bank next to Awash, Dashen and Abyssinia. Wegagen operates 213 branches across the country, and run by over 3,600 employees.
Abay did his under and post graduate studies at the Addis Abeba University and the University of Greenwich, respectively.
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