It appears the opening up of private commercial banks is the order of the day. Little does it seem to matter that the regulators have put the bar so high that banks being established now have to raise seven times more capital than the ones that opened back in the 1990s.

The enterprising effort of setting up a founding group, visiting the central bank in order to be granted the permit to raise equity from the public, and marketing the project idea has become all too often a case. Not only in banking, but also in all sorts of sectors. There are now close to 10 such projects competing to raise close to one billion Birr in capital, constituting 25pc of the loans the banking sector advanced last year.

There are now initial offerings available from Habesha Cement to Hagere Construction; from Messob Foods to Sheger Taxi; and from Access Capital Real Estate to Sky Bus; all are lined up in the marketplace of equity. Add to these the number of commercial banks in the pipeline from Brehan to Buna. The latter has reportedly advanced well and will soon open its door for business.

Nevertheless, regulators at the central bank have declined to approve the appointment to the Board of Directors of Kebede Temesgen, former chief of United and Abyssinia banks, gossip disclosed. He was not alone; Masetntu Feleke, a founding committee chair of Buna, was not accepted by the central bank as he is currently battling charges brought against him by prosecutors for his alleged role in issuing financial guarantee bonds while running Nile Insurance as its CEO.

While Buna is dashing to launch operations, trekking behind Oromia International Bank (OIB), another one with a regional touch is being conceived: Debub International Bank (DIB), gossip disclosed.

Indeed, its promoters, mainly Tsegaye Gebreweld, manager of Ethio-Investment Promotion, would like to stay away from regional association and are keen to identify the word Debub (South) as only an expression of direction, gossip heard. What stirs curiosity among the grapevine is the type of people he enlisted as a group of promoters, gossip disclosed.

Gossip claims that Tilahun Abay, one of the longest serving presidents of the state owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE), is one of the promoters. Debub will become his second debut, following his association with the Habesha Cement project. However, Debub will be his first association with a commercial bank after his release from jail last year, after having spent five years behind bars following accusations of policy breach while running the CBE.

His prison fellow, Abate Kisho, former chief of the Southern Regional State, is in the group of promoters of Debub International Bank. After his release, Abate resigned himself to the growing town of the South, Hawassa, where he now runs a bed-and-breakfast type of business which incorporates 15 rooms, according to gossip. Initiators of this bank are hoping that Abate's popularity in the South could be an asset in raising the required capital from potential subscribers from the coffee endowed region of the South, claims gossip.