ABSTRACT

Generally, the objective of this practical attachment is to assess the performance of commercial
bank of Ethiopia shanto branch. The extent to which commercial Bank of Ethiopia shanto branch
is realizing its vision and mission and performance of the organization in relation to its
objectives. The intention of this practical attachment was to increase student’s knowledge and
enable student to compare what have learnt so far in class and what have experienced in summer
practical. To produce well qualified, self-reliant, active, change agent and real problem solver
student. In addition, the other objective is to investigate equal participation of commercial Bank
of Ethiopia with other bank to it realizes to its visions, mission and objective. Not only limited to
this but also emphasis the problems faced by me while I was performing this practical
attachment. Thus, practical attachment suggests solutions and some of policy implication toward
reducing the problems based on finding.

Acknowledgement
First of all my deepest thanks goes to the Almighty God for his endless help and make me to

1
stay in life to this day and enables me to complete my internship. I also would like to express
my deepest gratitude to Mr. Talimos (manager) for his enthusiastic support from the preparation
until the final discussion of this internship with frequent follow up my activities and guide me. I
am greatly thanks for my family they had been assisted my schooling life and to give advice how
can I goes with my planning activity to finish my academic schooling in this university. Finally I
would like to acknowledge all individual and institutions that have helped me materially and
morally during the preparation of this paper.

Part One: Organizational Report

1.1. Background of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia

Commercial Bank of Ethiopia was established in 1942 and it was legally established as a share

2
company in 1963. In 1974, CBE merged with the privately owned Addis Ababa Bank. Since then
it has playing significant roles in the development of the country.

It has more than 1,616 branches stretched across the country and has opened four branches in
South Sudan. Currently CBE has more than 25 million account holders and the number of
mobile banking and internet banking subscriber’s reached more than 1.1 million. Similarly the
number of card holders has reached 2.8 million as of June 30th 2016.

It has pioneer to introduce modern banking to the country and the first bank to introduce
Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) services for local users.

CBE also is pioneer to introduce Western Union Money Transfer services early 1990’s and
currently working with other 20 money transfer agents like Xpress Money, Money Gram
Dehabishil, etc. The bank has strong relationship with 50 renowned foreign banks and has a
SWIFT bilateral arrangement with more than 700 other banks across the world.

Currently CBE has merged with construction and Business bank and increased its market size
and capital.

1.2 Mission, Values, Vision and Objectives of the Commercial Bank of

Ethiopia
1.2.1 Mission

The bank highly committed to best realize stakeholders values through enhanced financial
intermediation globally owned and supporting national development priorities, by developing
highly motivated, skilled and disciplined employees as well as state of the art technology. We
strongly believe that winning public confidence is the basis of our success.

1.2.2 Values: - the following are values of the bank

i. Integrity

-we are committed to the highest ideals of honor and integrity

-we strive to act in an honest and trustworthy manner
-we firmly adhere to ethical principles
ii. Customer Satisfaction
-we strive to excel our business and satisfy our customers
-we are committed to offer the highest quality service to our customers and aspire to be
branded with quality in the minds of our customers and the general public

3
 iii. Employee satisfaction
-we are committed to employee training and professional growth
-we distinguish our employees as valuable organizational resources
-we recognize our employees for their achievements
iv. Learning organization
-we are committed to anticipate and respond to internal and external changes through
constant improvement and adaptation
-we strive to establish a culture that nurtures individual and group learning
v. Teamwork and collaboration
-we recognize the importance of teamwork for our success
-we support one another and work co-operatively
vi. Public trust
-we understand that the sustainability of our business depends on our ability to
maintain and buildup public confidence
vii. Value for money
-we use resources carefully to save expense, time or effort

-we deliver the same level of service for less cost, time or effort
-we deliver a better service or getting a better return for the same amount of expense,
time or effort
viii. Decentralization
-we are committed to delegate operations and decision-making responsibilities
ix. Corporate citizenship
-we value the importance of our role in national development endeavors
-we abide by the laws of Ethiopia and other countries in which we do business
-we care about the welfare of the society and the environment
1.2.3 Vision and Objectives of CBE

The vision of the bank is to become a World-Class Bank by the year 2025.

Objectives of CBE are:-

 To contribute to the general economic development efforts of nation

 Enhance growing market share

4
  Expanding the bank’s capital base

 Ensuring excellence in customer services

 Provide differentiated, varied and value added banking services ,

 Maximizing profitability through increased efficiency

 Increasing employee satisfaction and developing their skill

1.3 The Governance and organizational structure of CBE

All departments in this organization are related to each other. The other department can control
the activity of other. Also on their daily activities they must report to the body which controls
each department. Also they control each other to minimize the problem on job, to be fair and
acceptable by every department. To achieve the objective and vision they obey responsibility for
the job given to all departments.

5
1.4 Action Taken by the Bank to realize its Visions & Mission and the

Performance of the bank in relation to its objectives

Currently, commercial bank of Ethiopia goes various steps to realize its goals and objectives. It
has been opening various branches across the country and launching various products &
services to meet the dynamic needs of the society.

CBE implemented various actions to modernize and increase quality of service such as IT
infrastructure, the card banking system, integrated Banking Solution (Core Banking), internet
and mobile banking. It has been installing ATM cash dispensers & other e-banking systems
across the country and providing Visa-branded card payment service. Even though the number
of mobile & internet banking users are few compared with total population of the country, the
bank has been taking various measures to increase the number of mobile and internet banking
users.

The bank trains its employee in order to improve quality of service deliverance, to develop their
skill and to create awareness on the policy and objectives of the bank. A corporate human
resource development strategy had been developed and implemented such as:-

 Competency gap analysis, training need assessment conducted ;

 Competency directory and a training curriculum developed;

 Agreement signed with international and consultancy firms and higher education
institutions like Frankfurt business & Management university to provide the
developmental training on continuous basis;
 Large developmental and technical trainings programs are provided;
 Succession planning and career Management system developed;
 Performance Management System (PMS) developed and implemented
In addition to that CBE opened its own library at Addis Ababa to develop its employee
knowledge and skill.

6
The bank establishes reliable information system and database for customer profiles and other
relevant information centrally stored and accessed.

CBE has been using various measures to increase its deposit amount, customer base and
foreign exchange earnings. Some of the measures taken by the bank are:-

 It creates intensive awareness throughout the country to bring non-banked society to

bank and to mobilize resources.

 It uses prize linked saving promotion

 Higher interest rate for targeted societies such as Women, Youth teen and student than
ordinary saving interest rate.
 Intensive promotion by using various channels such as TV, Radio, Browsers, etc… about
the products & services of the bank.
1.5 Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Treat (SWOT) Analysis of the

CBE
Like any financial organizations Commercial bank of Ethiopia can also be affected by changing
environment. Therefore, it is necessary to know SWOT analysis of the bank. It provides a
strategic SWOT analysis of the bank business and operations. The following are some of the
SWOT analysis of CBE:-

Strength of CBE-

 Secure and reliable services tailored to meet customers’ needs;

 It gives priority to public interest ;

 Over 60,000 committed, skilled and experienced employees
 Strong management-it can help CBE reach its potential by utilizing strengths and
eliminating weakness;
 Decentralized working environment
 Innovative Culture: it helps CBE to produce unique products and services that
meet their customers need ;
 Size advantages: it lowers CBE’s risk’s, the larger CBE gets, the more resources
they have to pursue new markets and defend themselves;
 Economies of Scale: it is the cost advantages that CBE obtains due to size, the
greater the volume, the greater the advantages;
 Technology: superior technology allows CBE to better meet the needs of their
customer’s in ways that competitors can’t imitate;
 Customer loyalty

7
Weakness: -

 competitive market

 investment in research & development

 low salary compared with many private bank
 presence of offline branches
Opportunities:-

 income level is at a constant increase

 Population growth
 New products and Services:-
 growing economy
 New Technology
 Vision to become World Class Commercial Bank in 2025
Threats:-

 increase in labor costs

 growing competition
 external business risks
1.6 Challenges & Problems of CBE
Like any financial organizations, CBE has faces various challenges in its day to activities and in its
strategic action. The following are among the problems that faces CBE at current time

1. Inflation: - Since recent times inflation has become the main global and domestic economic
challenge. Before the 2008 global financial crisis there was also inflation and as the economies
of Asian countries like China and India grew at a faster rate the demands for raw materials rose,
and it was mainly caused by international demand hikes. But after the crisis many developed
countries followed the policy of financial easing and released their currencies in to the global
economy. And increase in the money supply has created a massive global inflation and that is
felt here in Ethiopia.

For CBE the high rate of inflation has serious implication. Since it gives loans at a fixed rate of
interest as inflation rises their profit margin will be diminished. And as for a long period of time
the rate of inflation is higher than the deposit saving interest rate, the depositors will be less
motivated to deposit their money in a bank.

2. Low infrastructure in the country: - absence of basic infrastructure in the country hinders
the bank not to provide modern banking services to the society. The following are some of

8
challenges of CBE related with poor infrastructural facility of the country:-

 Low telecommunication infrastructure-absence of modern telecommunication

infrastructure especially in peripheral part of the country hinders the bank to

provide modern bank services to the society. In addition to that frequent failure of
network creates customer dissatisfaction of the bank. Even though CBE introduces some
modern banking service like ATM, Visa cards, mobile and internet banking in capital city
and in some regional cities, majority of the society missed to enjoy with the
technological advancement which has been entertained elsewhere in Africa and the rest
of the world due to the absence of infrastructural facilities.

 Lack of road’s creates rural society not to use bank

 Frequent Electric power Failure
3. Lack of awareness on the bank products and services by the society- even though the
number of customers that used bank increased periodically, majority of the society of our
country has no awareness on bank products and services.

4. Competition from other Bank:- there are many other bank that compete with CBE. They
always provide new products and service to their customers and their service excellence
increases from time to time. In addition to that private banks provide credit service to private
sector and CBE gives priority to provide credit service to government & sectors that have
impact on national economic development.

As CBE planned to become world class bank in 2025 it apply various approaches to solve or
minimize its problem & challenge in order to achieve its goals. It provides financial support to
government in order to minimize poor infrastructural facility like telecommunication and
electric power supply.

CBE also used various methods to create awareness and to increase its customer base. It used
Door to door, browser, various TV, and Radio channels, discussion with stakeholders and other
methods to create awareness on bank products and services to the society.

CBE also introduces new and modern technology to its customer periodically. The users of
modern banking services increasing from time to time and the number of branches opened
across the country reached more than 1616 now .

Today, more than ever before, CBE aggressively expanded its presence in all directions of the
country. Despite the flourishing of other private commercial banks in the country, CBE has
remained potent and is in the lead in terms of assets, deposits, capital, and customer’s base.

9
 Part Two: Activity Report

2.1 Background of the department/division where you working

The commercial bank of Ethiopia (CBE) shanto branch was located on south west wolaita sodo
district that was founds in the SNNP regional state in wolaita zone Dammot pulassa woreda.
And the bank was estabilished during the year 2006.
During the year of estabilishment the CBE shanto branch started by six(6) employees, including
the branch manager, now the branch has more than 20 employees.
The CBE shanto branch employees are performing their activities effectively and honestly.

Customer service officer department is one of the sectors of commercial bank of Ethiopia shanto
branch. It performs its duties and responsibility by setting specific and feasible goals and
objectives which support to speed up customer satisfaction and profit
maximization of the bank.

2.2 Objectives and major responsibilities as well as activities of the department

or division.

2.2.1 Objective of the department .

● To ensure standardization and uniformity in the customer service process.
● To smoothly implement integrated banking solutions in customer service process.
● To have single source of reference to perform.
● To determine duties and responsibilities that each employee at all level in the
customer service process.
● To provide efficient and quality service to its customers.

10
2.3 objective and major responsibilities as well as activities of the department

/division

1) Account opening: - there are many types of accounts those are:-

● Saving account – is interest bearing deposit opened by legal and physical person s,
organization and association.
● Demand deposit account – shall mean an interest bearing account opened only
by customers who are literate.
● Special demand account – means a non interest bearing account that is opened t o full fill
the request of customer who for one not wants interest for their deposit.
● Fixed time deposits – a type of account deposit is received at certain period of ti me
without movement a minimum of three month and attracts higher interest rat e t han
others.
● Earmarked account – means account opened with other description after the na me of
the account holders such as club, business n and work shop account.
2) Duties related to customer service
Opening account
Pay cash& receive cash

3) Telegram – that means send outgoing message and receive incoming message fro m other
branch.

2.4 The responsibilities and major activities me as a member of department

As department member I also have the responsibilities of performing the activities of the
department. Based on those general activities, I perform the following specific activities as an
apprentice, when I was participating at commercial Bank of Ethiopia shanto branch.
● I opened account for more than 15 customers by supporting employees
● I check the name, date and signature of the customer to be filled properly.
● I participated in different writing and typing activities that help for customer

11
 service.
● I accomplish a given work punctual and honestly by obeying the rules and regulat ion of
the organization.
● Protecting the office resource from damage.
● I gave different service for department and customers.
● I fill different forms by helping customers.

2.5 Performance Evaluation of my activities

From the first day that I have started practical work on Customer service department;
● I could understand how to deliver bank service to customers.
● I could understand the different type of communications in the organization at all.
● I have good communication with others at work place.
● To ask necessary data I could communicate with my manager from time to
time etc…

2.6 Challenges and Problems encountered on the job and remedial

measures
As I am new for the job I have faced various challenges during the practical work. Some of the
problems that encountered me during the practical work time are summarized
below:-
i. Low knowledge about the office manner of the bank: - at the beginning time of the
practical work I have a little knowledge of the manner of the bank like wearing &
working time.
ii. Low knowledge about the work flow/process of the bank
iii. Low knowledge about the function of office materials/equipment
iv. Low knowledge about the rules & directives of the bank
v. Low skills about the customer handling of the branch
In order to overcome the above problems I was took various actions. Some of the actions that I

12
took to overcome the challenges are:-
 By reading and understanding various documents like various Memo and Manuals

related with the bank workflow/process.

 By asking senior staffs and manager / supervisory about the workflow, office manner,

and related issues

 By reading various books and materials from other sources

 Induction from manager/supervisor about the workflow, office manner and customer
handling .

2.7 Problem of division or department and suggested solutions

The major problems that face the department are the following..
■ There is a big internet connection problem or network problem.
■ There is inefficiency of some materials like chair, table and so on.
■ Some workers have problems on their behavior and didn’t give proper service to
customer.

Suggested solutions for the problems

■ Asking concerned body to get enough networks that help to provide proper
service for customer.
■ To solve the problems of inefficiency of materials by asking additional budget for the
department and purchasing this materials and make available for the
department
■ The office should have hire authors employees as additional.

Part Three: Attachment Evaluation

Practical attachment is an essential for the development of the practical and professional
skills required for a real work and an aid to prospective employment. It helps students the
opportunity to apply knowledge in real work, exposing students to work methods not
taught in the university and as well as assessing students interest in the occupation he/she

13
 plans to undertake. In addition to that it enables to know theories and principles I have
learned in a class practically. Therefore, practical attachment has paramount benefits to my
study and to my future career in the field.

3.1 Significance of Practical Attachment

There are a lot of significant of practical attachments for the students, university and for
society. Some of the significances are listed below:-
 Practical attachment gives students the opportunity to apply the knowledge and skill
they have acquired on campus in a real-life work situation.
 It enables student to be familiar with practical work when they complete their
academic year;
 It develops student’s research making skill.
 It develops student’s skill to solve challenges or problem that they faced during
academic year or their practical work;
 It enables employers to recruit graduates familiarized with practical work
 It enhances employability skills of the students.
 It helps students’ to develop decision making skills, critical thinking skills, increased
confidence and self-esteem.
3.2 Relevance of Practical Attachment to my studies
I have acquired a lot of benefits from practical attachment to my studies. Some of the
relevance’s of practical attachment are stated below:-
 Many operational part of the bank are related with theoretical knowledge that I
acquired from my study, so it enables me to develop my theoretical knowledge with
practical skill;
 It helps me to apply knowledge I gained in the classroom;
 Practical work enables me to narrow the gap between theoretical knowledge and
practical skills related with my study;
 It enhances learning and understanding of issues relevant to a particular area of study;
3.3 Applicability of theories and others in class on Practical Work

14
Many of the theories that we learned in the class are directly or indirectly related with practical
work that I observed. Let us see some of the theories applied in the work place.
◆ principle of marketing used to identifying customers need and want.
◆ consumer behaviour used to know customers behaviour.
◆ civic and ethical education used to respect bank rules and regulations .
Example: punctuality

4.4. Major Challenges and Problems that I faced during Practical

Attachment
There are a lot of problems that I faced during my practical attachment.
I. Time constraint- the duration is not enough to cover all work processes.
II. Budget constraint- the budget provided by university is not sufficient to cover attachment
cost
III. The linkage between university and the organization that I conducted practical attachment
is not strong
In order to overcome the above problems the following action should be considered:-
 The practical work duration should be increases
 The university should increase budget for practical attachment
 The university should be actively involved in assisting students in getting organizations
where they conduct their attachment
Part Four: Conclusion and Recommendation
This part summarizes the findings, discusses the conclusions drawn from the study, and
provides recommendations.
4.1 Summary of the Attachment
The main objectives of this practical attachment was to give students the opportunity
to apply the knowledge and skills they have acquired on campus in a real-life work situation, to
expose students to a work environment, common practices, employment opportunities and
work ethics in their relevant field, to strength linkages between university and employers, and
to identify challenges and problems that students will face on the job after they complete their

15
academic life.
Organizational background, its mission, vision and values, organizational structure, SWOT
analysis, and various challenges and problems that affect organization at current time of CBE
has investigated in the attachment.

CBE has largest commercial bank in the country and it has huge capital, skilled manpower and
more than 1616 branches stretched across the country. The organization has the capacity and
willingness to contribute to economic growth of the country by mobilizing resources of the
country.
Various challenges and problems that faced organization in general and CBE shanto branch
particularly in current time has investigated. Some of the challenges of CBE that indicated
above are inflation, lack of infrastructures, lack of awareness about the banks product and
service and competitive environment. In addition to that big internet connection/network
problem and inefficiency of materials are the major challenges of CBE
shanto branch.
4.2 Conclusion
The attachment ascertains that creating strong relation between university and employers has
great advantages for students, university and generally for the society. Many Ethiopian higher
education institutions do not create practical attachment chance for their students. Rather they
focused on teaching theoretical part and that creates challeng
for the students in their employment after they complete academic life.
On the other hand many challenges and problems observed in the organizations where the
practical attachment was conducted and knowing challenges and problems of organizations
may develop problem solving skill of the students. Therefore, conducting practical attachment
is important for students, university, employers and for society generally.
4.3 Recommendation
Based on the findings of the practical attachment, the following are recommended for the
concerned organs:-
 The university should increase duration time of the practical attachment;

16
 Service excellence is useful for CBE to compete with private banks. The bank should
expand modern banking service specially E-banking service to its customer;
 CBE should give due attention for research and development;
 CBE should take action to mobilize and collect resources from growing economy of the
country;
 The university should provide adequate budget for practical attachment;
 The university should strength linkages with organizations where the attachment
conducted;
 The university should give orientation/induction about practical attachment to their
students. It enables students to become pre-oriented about practical work environment.
 Like other private bank CBE should pay better salary to its employee due to employee
satisfaction is one among the values of the bank, in addition to that better salary may
reduce skilled and experienced employee flow to private bank.

17
5. References

● Some oral information from employees

● Information from written documents of organization

● Direct information from the supervisor of the organization

● from employees of organization

● some from daily activities

18