Financial Services

Long-dominated by state-owned banks and restricted to Ethiopian nationals, the opening-up of the Ethiopian financial sector to foreign investment is bound to create a heightened interest in Ethiopia as the next big destination of foreign direct investment. Coupled with the recent liberalization of the telecom sector and its lateral expansion in mobile-banking and promising growth of the Fin-Tech industry, the Ethiopian financial sector will soon become one of the biggest blocks of FDI inflows to Ethiopia.

With several years of experience advising clients in cross-border financial issues, and leveraging our expertise in corporate, commercial, M & A, our lawyers are well-positioned to advise and represent clients in complex financial transactions, including preparing for the consolidation of domestic banks and entry of foreign banks into the Ethiopian market.

Our services include:

• Advising and representing clients in cross-border financial transactions, such as equity and debt financing of companies in Ethiopia;
• Advising and representing clients in respect of National Bank Directives on matters like foreign loans, suppliers’ credits, and export credit guarantees;
• Advising and representing clients in cross-border trade financing;
• Advising and representing clients in financial aspects of mergers and acquisitions;
• In respect of foreign loans and credit facilities to the government and state-owned enterprises, drafting and assisting in drafting credit facilities, advising and representing clients in connection with the legality, validity and enforceability of foreign loans and credit facilities as well as the legality, validity and enforceability of sovereign guarantees issued by the Ministry of Finance;
• Again in connection with foreign loans and credit facilities, conducting limited or comprehensive due diligence investigations on Ethiopian borrowers on matters like capacity, required authorization, and validity of the loan and credit facilities;
• Advising and representing clients in connection with guarantees and securities given for foreign loans and credit facilities;
• Advising and assisting foreign financial institutions on opening subsidiaries and branches;
• Assisting and representing foreign financial institutions in connection with the establishment of commercial representative offices or establishing relationships or alliances with local banks;
• Advising and representing clients in respect of the emerging capital markets laws of Ethiopia;
• In preparation for the eventual opening up of the sector, advising and assisting in banking consolidations through banking mergers and acquisitions;
• Advising and representing clients in respect of regulatory matters concerning banks and other financial institutions;