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IBM > Case Studies > Commercial Bank of Ethiopia: Accelerating business growth with a resilient, mobile-enabled core-banking platform from IBM and Oracle
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Commercial Bank of Ethiopia: Accelerating business growth with a resilient, mobile-enabled core-banking platform from IBM and Oracle

Technology Category
  • Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management
  • Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
  • Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Middleware, SDKs & Libraries
  • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing
  • Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Storage Services
Applicable Industries
  • Finance & Insurance
Applicable Functions
  • Business Operation
Use Cases
  • Process Control & Optimization
  • Real-Time Location System (RTLS)
  • Remote Asset Management
Services
  • Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
  • Software Design & Engineering Services
  • System Integration
The Challenge
Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) was facing the challenge of maintaining excellent customer service and fast-paced growth due to the strain on processes and systems caused by rapid business expansion. The bank wanted to make banking more accessible by expanding its reach, responsiveness, and service offering. However, an aging core-banking infrastructure supported only some of its aims. In addition to targeting new domestic markets, CBE wanted to unlock the commercial potential of electronic banking services, both in branch and online. However, basic services such as bank transfers relied on heavily manual processes, which were time-consuming and inconvenient for customers.
About The Customer
Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) is one of Africa’s leading financial services providers. Founded in 1942 and headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, CBE has more than eight million account holders and annual revenues equivalent to USD586 million. The bank operates 868 branches across Ethiopia, and an international branch in South Sudan. The company aims to open new branches in Djibouti, South Africa, and the USA. CBE's vision is to become a world-class commercial bank by 2025. The first step on the roadmap to 2025 is growing its customer base by opening new branches across Ethiopia and internationally.
The Solution
CBE refreshed its core-banking platform, gaining the performance, availability, and scalability to integrate its network of more than 868 branches, deliver instant bank transfers, and offer online services. The bank selected high-performance IBM Power 795 and IBM Power 770 servers, running the IBM AIX operating system and connected to IBM System Storage DS8800 arrays. To ensure the resilience of critical financial data, the bank configured its servers as a high-availability cluster using IBM PowerHA software, and performs regular backups using IBM Tivoli Storage Manager software. To create a secure architecture for online banking services, the bank selected IBM WebSphere Application Server and IBM WebSphere MQ software, optimized for enhanced resilience, performance, and security on the IBM Power Systems server platform. And to support its mobile banking services and line-of-business applications, CBE deployed two IBM BladeCenter HS23 chassis populated with blade servers running Windows Server 2008.
Operational Impact
  • CBE’s new core banking platform delivers the performance to support its ambitious growth objectives.
  • The bank supports almost 500,000 in-branch transactions per day – an increase of 150 percent.
  • The bank managed to bring its services to new domestic markets and capitalize on emerging demand for anytime, anywhere banking – winning new business and driving growth.
Quantitative Benefit
  • Bank transfers that previously took up to four days now take just 10 minutes – an improvement of 99 percent.
  • The bank supports almost 500,000 in-branch transactions per day – an increase of 150 percent.

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