On May 11, 2026, Abay Bank registered nine million six hundred fifty-seven thousand two hundred eighty‑six (9,657,286) existing shares already held by shareholders.
In a notice issued on Monday, Ethiopian capital market authority announced that it had approved Abay Bank’s Registration Statement in accordance with Articles 4 and 29 of the Public Offer and Trading of Securities Directive No. 1030/2024.
The ECMA stated that all securities offered or sold to the public must be registered unless specifically exempted under the Directive. Additionally, it said that issuers must register shareholders’ securities prior to the Directive’s distribution.
“Pursuant to Article 4 and 29 of the Public Offer and Trading of Securities Directive No. 1030/2024, all securities, unless expressly exempted from registration, that are offered or sold to the public are required to be registered with the Ethiopian Capital Market Authority, and issuers are required to register securities held by their shareholders prior to the issuance of the Directive.”
As Ethiopia’s fledgling capital market gathers traction after the establishment of the Ethiopian Securities Exchange, Abay Bank’s registration is the most recent in a string of approvals.
In February 2026, the ESX confirmed that six commercial banks, Awash Bank, Dashen Bank, Bank of Abyssinia, Abay Bank S.C., Anbesa Bank, and Amhara Bank, had received “Approval in Principle” to list on the ESX Main Market. One of the last regulatory processes prior to official listing is securities registration with the ECMA.
In recent months, the Authority has begun processing registrations more quickly. Awash Bank‘s historic listing the next month was made possible by the ECMA’s approval of the registration of 54,066,089 of the bank’s current ordinary shares on March 16, 2026.
More recently, on April 21, 2026, the Authority approved Zemen Bank S.C.‘s Registration Statement, registering 15,000,000 shares that were already owned by current shareholders.
The growing pipeline of registrations signals increasing momentum for Ethiopia’s long-awaited capital market reforms, as banks position themselves for public trading and broader investor participation.