After a rigorous assessment of different banking professionals, the board of directors of Zemen Bank has finally selected Awash Bank’s vice president, Dereje Zebene, as its president. The board’s selection has got the required green light from the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE).
It is mandatory that banks present their higher officials credentials to the central bank for approval before the officials take their posts.
Dejene was selected from eight other candidates and Zemen is waiting for a letter of approval from the NBE. One of the candidates for the post that reached the final evaluation was the current Corporate Vice President of Abay Bank Belete Dagnew. This makes Dereje the fourth president of Zemen since its establishment.
Dereje served different positions at Awash Bank including vice president for International Banking. He also served as Awash Bank’s Transformation and Corporate Strategy vice president at the time the bank went through structural change.
The new president of Zemen has bachelor degrees in Business Administration, Law and Management and has 20 years of experience in the banking sector. Before joining Awash Bank, Dereje served at the NBE and the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia in different positions. He also worked at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a representative for Germany’s Commerzbank AG.
Zemen reasoned that the need for the replacement of current president, Tsegaye Tetemke, is because Tsegaye is set to depart the bank on pension.
Zemen bank has 23 branches across the country. By the end of the last fiscal year, the bank registered a gross profit of 146.5 million birr while it raised its capital to 850 million birr. The Bank’s asset has reached 9.7 billion birr.
