Ethiopia’s central bank, the National Bank of Ethiopia, has officially launched the full-fledged version of its Central Securities Depository (CSD) system and unveiled a national investor portal called Ts’ega, effective 22 November 2025.

According to the NBE press release: “This milestone marks a major advancement in Ethiopia’s efforts to build a transparent, efficient, and fully digital capital market ecosystem. The launch of the CSD and Ts’ega marks a transformative moment in Ethiopia’s financial sector development—supporting transparency, strengthening market confidence, and opening new pathways for Ethiopian investors to participate in the country’s economic growth.

However, the NBE emphasizes to market participants that the activation of the enhanced CSD and the launch of the Ts’ega portal (accessible at csdtsega.nbe.gov.et) “do not introduce any operational changes for banks, settlement institutions, or intermediaries. All existing processes remain fully intact, and market participants can continue their operations without disruption.”

The CSD has been available for active interbank money market trading since October 2024 (see our story) and has been supporting equity trading since earlier this year, although only pilot equity trades have been reported, while government treasury bills (T-bills) were introduced in July 2025 (see Ethiopian Securities Exchange press release). The CSD offers end-to-end processing including delivery-versus-payment for government and private securities including fixed income, bonds, equities and others.

The Ethiopian Securities Exchange provides the trading platform using its Capizar system supplied by InfoTech group (see our story).

It is supplied by US-based financial payments solution provider Montran (see news story on Ethiopian Monitor), which also provides payments. According to this news report on Birrmetrics, the NBE has received technical support from the World Bank Group and Korean institutions.

FSD Africa has been a key partner in the development of Ethiopia’s capital market since 2020. It has stepped in with investment and support at many stages in terms of a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2022 between the Ministry of Finance, sovereign wealth fund Ethiopian Investment Holdings and FSD Africa. The programme is partly outlined in this blog post. It has invested into the CSD and into the Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX). The FSD Africa programme to support the CSD was launched in 2022, according to this project summary. Here is our story on the earlier stages of development.

The Ts’ega digital platform offers individual and institutional investors secure, real-time access to the securities information recorded in the CSD. It allows investors to view their holdings directly from the national depository, without relying on manual updates from intermediaries and is another step in expanding access to financial markets and advancing financial inclusion.

According to the NBE: “A CSD is a core component of modern financial systems, enabling the smooth and secure functioning of monetary policy instruments and the primary securities market. It ensures the safekeeping of securities and manages the full post-trade lifecycle, including transfer of ownership, clearing, settlement, and portfolio reporting. By introducing this system, the National Bank of Ethiopia strengthens market integrity, enhances efficiency, and reduces operational risk—aligning Ethiopia with international best practices.
“In addition to strengthening national market infrastructure, the CSD delivers a comprehensive suite of private securities services that support the growth of Ethiopia’s capital market. These include:

• Private securities dematerialization – transitioning physical certificates into secure electronic form
• Centralized custody – providing a single, trusted repository for safekeeping private securities
• Post-trade orchestration – facilitating efficient clearing and settlement of private securities transactions
• Corporate actions processing – managing dividends, bonus issues, stock splits, and other issuer-driven events.

“These capabilities enhance transparency, reduce operational risks, and modernize the way private securities are managed and recorded across the market.

The central bank says that the “go-live of the full-fledged CSD and the launch of Ts’ega also support several pillars of NBE’s 2023–2026 strategic plan. These include the transition toward a market-based monetary policy regime, the strengthening of data analysis and research capabilities for policy making, the promotion of digitization and broad financial inclusion, and the drive toward institutional excellence across people, processes, and technology.

“Together, these advancements create stronger foundations for Ethiopia’s evolving capital market and monetary policy framework.

The Ts’ega web platform is live and the mobile application is for final testing. NBE has asked for 50 users to come forward to install and test the Ts’ega Investor Portal mobile application once it becomes available. People interested should send their name and email address using the form provided at nbe.gov.et/csd. Those selected will receive early access to the application and will be recognized as among the first users of the Ts’ega mobile experience.

(Photo: Commercial Bank of Ethiopia took over the very original first National Bank of Ethiopia building. The new NBE headquarters can be seen behind on the left. Photo by VBzi, Creative Commons 2.0 Generic from Wikimedia)