Eaglelion Systems Technology unveiled a three-part platform to speed up and simplify money transfers to Ethiopia.
The vast digital system, launched on Tuesday, is designed to transfer more diaspora funds through official channels. It bolsters recently intensified efforts to stop a thriving black market that officials claim is depleting hard currency and causing price instability.
Functions of Eaglelion’s three-part remittance solutions
In order to satisfy various demands in the global transfer chain, the three-part solutions which include Gift Ethiopia, Ethiopia Remittance, and Agency Connect are made to weave banks, authorized agents, and digital providers into a single, compatible network.
Gift Ethiopia would allow diaspora members to send packaged gift cards and cash gifts straight to recipients when it first launches.
Ethiopia Remittance is marketed as a real-time interface that connects all local banks with licensed agents overseas.
The third component, Agency Connect, provides an integration gateway that enables international remittance companies to connect their APIs to Ethiopian financial institutions without having to establish one-time connections with every bank.
Senior bankers and regulators attended the launch ceremony held at the Sheraton Addis.
Broader effort to combat illicit flows
Mamo Mihretu, governor of the National Bank of Ethiopia, described the launch as part of a broader effort to combat illicit flows.
According to him, about $7 billion came into the nation legally in the last 12 months, but he cautioned that there are still a lot of unrecorded transfers.
He asserted that the absence of easily accessible tools had contributed to the growth of the parallel market and that “all banks, either unilaterally or through collaborations, need to come up with a convenient, technology-backed platform to facilitate seamless remittance flow for senders and recipients, immediately.”
Recently, the central bank has increased enforcement, naming known foreign operators in public and freezing accounts.
“We will continue to take action against illegal remittance flows.” “Technology needs to keep up with the increasingly complex global payments industry,” Mamo added.
Targets audience
Eaglelion is betting that transactions will return to onshore due to simplicity.
According to the company’s founder and CEO, Besufikad Getachew, the build was centred on incorporating Ethiopians with difficulty utilising current services, such as those without residency permits, instant access to banks, or foreign credit cards like Visa or Mastercard.
“We have designed the platform to enable all stakeholders to participate,” he said.
Challenges
He mentioned two long-standing obstacles: the lengthy approval process required for remittance companies to integrate directly with local banks, and prefunding requirements that hinder foreign agents from settling in Ethiopia.
He said the national retail-payments switch, EthSwitch, will provide banks with real-time settlement through the new agency platform.
While the API gateway is designed to save digital remitters from creating separate integrations with each bank, Eaglelion intends to gradually introduce more features, such as letters of credit and other trade-facilitation tools.
Welcome development
Banks welcomed the idea of cleaner pipes, as they have observed remittance volumes fluctuate through unofficial corridors.
According to Asfaw Alemu, chief executive of Dashen Bank, the technology could help close gaps after recent macroeconomic reforms, especially for Ethiopian workers in the Middle East who have trouble finding authorised operators to send money home.
“The platform can address several gaps highlighted by the Ethiopian diaspora,” he said.
Eaglelion has created over a dozen fintech services and payment applications in the past, including custom systems for organisations like Dashen Bank and Cashgo, one of the nation’s first digital remittance platforms.