Women in Ethiopia are still struggling to access finance, facing higher rejection rates and smaller loans than men. They are also underrepresented in the fast-growing digital payments sector, where they make up just 22% of users.
The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), with backing from the World Bank’s Africa Gender Innovation Lab, has rolled out a new tool designed to change that: the Women’s Financial Inclusion Scorecard.
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Far from being just a metric, the Scorecard is meant to be a lever for reform. It sets measurable benchmarks for banks, grading them on how they hire, how they serve women, and whether they innovate products that address women’s specific needs.
Anchored in policy
The move ties into Ethiopia’s National Financial Inclusion Strategy II (2021–2025), which targets cutting the gender gap in account ownership from 19 percentage points to 10 by mid-decade.
NBE has already wielded its regulatory powers, requiring all banks to appoint at least one female board member and to ensure that a quarter of senior managers are women. Those measures are now embedded in the central bank’s Banking Corporate Governance Directive.
Officials argue that inclusion is not just about fairness but also economics. Analysts estimate closing gender gaps in financial access could add $3.7 billion to Ethiopia’s GDP each year.
Three lenses of progress
The Scorecard weighs performance across three dimensions:
- Women in the Workforce (30%) – board seats, leadership roles, parental support and mentorship.
- Women’s Use of Financial Products (50%) – client base, loan portfolios, savings accounts.
- Financial Innovation (20%) – products tailored to women’s needs, from flexible microloans to digital services.
Banks are then placed in five tiers, from “Neutral” to “Transformational.”
First results
In its first reporting cycle this year, the Scorecard assessed 30 banks. The findings: the sector sits at a “Building Momentum” stage, with average and median scores around 2.95.
Only Enat Bank, founded with a mandate to serve women entrepreneurs, landed in the top “Transformational” category. Wegagen Bank, Tsedey Bank and Goh Betoch Bank ranked as “Intentional,” showing stronger progress.
Most others – 19 banks – are in the middle, making visible but uneven strides.
Workforce out front, innovation lags
The clearest gains have come in the workforce. Banks including Commercial Bank of Ethiopia and Hibret Bank have surpassed board diversity targets. But the support structures that matter for long-term careers – childcare, parental leave, mentorship – remain rare. Only Zemen Bank and Dashen Bank reported parental support schemes.
On access to financial products, progress is moderate. Credit to women is rising, with Siinqee Bank and Commercial Bank of Ethiopia surpassing targets. Yet products often remain generic. Loan sizes are still small, and services rarely reflect the needs of informal workers or women-led microenterprises.
Innovation is the weakest area. The sector’s median score of 2.33 points to limited investment in tailored solutions. A few banks – Enat, Cooperative Bank of Oromia, Wegagen – are experimenting with digital lending or gender-focused design. Others, such as Zemen, Tsehay and Rammis, still have no women-specific offerings.
Data to drive reform
For regulators, the Scorecard provides the first comprehensive, sex-disaggregated picture of the sector. NBE says the data will guide future policy, push lagging banks, and foster peer learning.
Analysts say the next steps must go beyond compliance. Banks need better data systems to track outcomes, stronger HR policies to retain female staff, and product design rooted in user research.
If implemented well, the Scorecard could help shift financial inclusion from a regulatory requirement to a business opportunity – one that broadens portfolios and fuels growth.
For now, Ethiopia’s banks are learning to compete not just on profits, but on progress.
