Commercial Bank of Ethiopia to Undergo System Upgrade, Temporarily Suspending Services
The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), a major player in Ethiopia’s financial landscape, has announced a planned system upgrade, scheduled for Sunday, September 21, 2025. This upgrade will necessitate a temporary suspension of various digital and in-branch services, impacting customers across the nation and potentially reflecting broader trends in African banking technology. This planned downtime aims to bolster the bank’s technological infrastructure.
Impacted Services and Timeline
The system upgrade will see a temporary outage for several key services. Mobile banking, internet banking, ATM access, POS (point-of-sale) transactions, and core banking operations will be unavailable. The outage window is slated to begin at 3:00 p.m. and last until 3:30 a.m. the following morning. However, CBE Birr, the bank’s mobile money platform, will remain fully operational throughout the duration of the upgrade, offering a continuous service option for users.
The bank has not provided specific details regarding the technical improvements being implemented. Nonetheless, scheduled upgrades of this nature commonly focus on improving system performance, boosting security protocols, and accommodating increasing transaction volumes and customer needs. Such upgrades are often strategically timed to minimize disruption, with banks like CBE opting for off-peak hours to limit the impact on their customer base.
Keywords
Related Keywords: Commercial Bank of Ethiopia outage, CBE system upgrade, CBE services suspended, CBE temporary suspension, Ethiopian bank services, CBE online banking down, CBE system maintenance, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia news, CBE upgrade schedule, CBE service disruption
