May 20, 2026
Borkena
Toronto – Bank accounts of a considerable number of Commercial Bank of Ethiopia customers have been frozen for over a week now. This was the case in selected towns and cities across the country, although the bank left it murky on what basis these towns were selected.
On Wednesday, the bank announced the reason why the accounts were frozen.
It said the decision was due to the National Bank of Ethiopia’s requirement to link Bank accounts with a Faida Identification Card.
The deadline to link the ID to an account was May 14.
It means clients have not had access to their accounts since then. It appears there were similar situations with some private banks, too, including Bank of Abyssinia. In some instances, remittance is directly deposited into accounts that were not released to beneficiaries for the same reason. Clients were required to fix their Faida-Bank account link issue before accessing their accounts.
In a brief announcement on Wednesday, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia said clients living in towns other than those affected by the May 14 deadline have until July 7 to complete the requirement.
It also said that linking Faida to a bank account can be done at the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia branches or online at https://cbefayda.cbe.com.et
The National Bank of Ethiopia has been enacting several monetary regulations since Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s administration, with pressure from the IMF and the World Bank as some say, macro economic reform in July 2024 including changes in the forex regime.
Money laundering and illegal money transfers were among the key challenges the government has been facing.
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