IslamicFinance.de

In #Ethiopia, Muslim members of the business community are and had been severely underserved by the nation’s financial industry. This seemed to be changing in 2011 with the enactment of the nation’s first interest-free banking directive by the National Bank of Ethiopia. However, the directive only authorized interest-free banking window in the setup of a conventional banking system and not a full-fledged Islamic bank. Exactly six years later, three potential full-fledged Islamic banks have been established. The three have officially started selling shares while unofficially at least two more banks are said to be in the pipeline to take part in the interest-free banking game. This will bring the total number of new entrants to five.