An expansive digital system meant to move more diaspora money through formal channels was introduced yesterday, complementing recently escalated efforts to curb a flourishing parallel market that policy makers say is draining hard currency and destabilizing prices.
At a ceremony at the Sheraton Addis attended by senior bankers and regulators, Eaglelion Systems Technology introduced a three-part platform it says will make sending money to Ethiopia faster and easier. The services, Gift Ethiopia, Ethiopia Remittance, and Agency Connect, are designed to meet different needs in the international transfer chain while knitting banks, licensed agents, and digital providers into a single, interoperable network.
Upon launch, Gift Ethiopia would let members of the diaspora send cash gifts and packaged gift cards directly to recipients. Ethiopia Remittance is pitched as a real-time interface linking licensed agents abroad with all local banks. Agency Connect, the third leg, offers an integration gateway so global remittance firms can plug their APIs into Ethiopian financial institutions without building one-off connections to each bank.
Mamo Mihretu, governor of the National Bank of Ethiopia, cast the launch as part of a larger fight against illicit flows. He said roughly $7 billion entered the country through legal channels over the past year but warned that unrecorded transfers remain significant. “All banks, either unilaterally or through collaborations, need to come up with a convenient, technology-backed platform to facilitate seamless remittance flow for senders and recipients, immediately,” he said, arguing that the lack of accessible tools had helped the parallel market thrive.
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