Addis Ababa, Aug. 18, 2022 – Dashen Bank today announced it has implemented IBM Cloud Pak for Integration on Red Hat OpenShift, to modernise its cloud integration architecture. The collaboration with IBM (NYSE: IBM) will help the bank expand its ecosystem by accelerating digital transformation and new innovative offerings for customers.

The demand for digital banking services is increasing in Ethiopia’s telecom sector, accelerating the adoption of technologies to boost financial inclusion in the country. According to the GSMA, smartphones will constitute 58% of internet connections in Ethiopia by 2025 and they will play a critical role in facilitating the delivery of digital financial services to consumers.

Working with IBM and its business partners Eidiko Systems Integrators Pvt. Ltd. and Afcor PLC, Dashen Bank has gained an agile, secure, and reliable integration platform which optimizes the bank’s resources across cloud and on-premise environments.  By adopting a hybrid cloud strategy, the bank can now deploy and expand its digital channels across any technology environment, enhancing the open banking experience with key stakeholders such as fintechs, neo-banks and corporate and telecom partners. Dashen Bank can now constantly onboard and integrate new apps and partners with a fast time-to-market.

“The collaboration with IBM has provided the ability for Dashen Bank to enhance our integration capabilities and reduce integration costs, increase our speed to market, agility, security, and quality of integration tasks. We can already see these benefits on Amole, our omnichannel banking platform, which is using IBM Cloud Pak for Integration, for critical financial transactions such as money transfers, mobile wallets, etc to streamline operations and improve digital experiences for our customers.” says Shimelis Legesse, Chief Information Officer, Dashen Bank.

“As consumers’ preferences for digital and mobile solutions continue to grow due to increasing smartphone penetration and the demand for convenience, IBM is proud to be a trusted partner to Dashen Bank to accelerate their digital transformation. We helped Dashen Bank to identify the hybrid cloud strategy that meets its needs to ensure the bank had a fully integrated, cloud-ready solution that meets their integration requirement.” says Caroline Mukiira, GM East Africa, IBM.

The move will allow the bank to be more adaptable to changing business needs and digital-first customer expectations enhancing its competitive advantage through easier deployment and development using a cloud-native approach. Additionally, the bank is able to comply with government and international policies and regulations.

About Dashen Bank

Founded in 1995 and headquartered in Addis Ababa, Dashen Bank is one of the pioneer banks in Ethiopia in terms of introducing digital financial solutions and banking technologies. It offers conventional and Sharia-compliant banking services through more than 550 branches. Dashen now has more than 3 million Amole subscribers shortly after it introduced the platform in July 2018. The Bank works in collaboration with various international money transfer agents and has long established strategic partnership with some of the biggest global card networks including American Express, VISA, MasterCard, and China Union Pay.

For more information, visit www.dashenbanksc.com

About IBM

IBM is a leading global hybrid cloud and AI, and business services provider, helping clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain the competitive edge in their industries. Nearly 3,800 government and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM's hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently, and securely. IBM's breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and business services deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM's legendary commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity, and service. For more information, visit www.ibm.com