CBE Pulls Plug On 600mln Birr Logo Redesign Amid Federal Backlash

A massive rebranding campaign at the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) has been forced to halt in its tracks following blowback from senior federal officials who are dissatisfied with the design of a proposed new logo, sources close to the bank told The Reporter.

The industry giant’s branding rework and logo redesign has reportedly consumed upwards of half a billion Birr and was scheduled for rollout last week before CBE executives were ordered to cut short their plan by the federal government, according to the sources.

CBE execs were looking to replace the bank’s iconic golden-spiraled insignia, which has remained virtually unchanged for over half a century, with a more modern, monotone design—a massive replica of which has already appeared on the side of the bank’s 46-storey headquarters in Addis Ababa.

The black logo features the letters ‘CBE’ in a sleek, disconnected font with the motto ‘always reliable’ under the initials.

Although some have already criticized the logo for being “boring”, especially in contrast with the emblem it was hoped to replace, sources say the most senior federal officials, including the Prime Minister, have taken issue with the rebranding for a different, more tangible reason: it fails to include any Amharic text.

“The PM learned about the new logo in the days preceding the launch. He didn’t know about it beforehand. The PM ordered the launch be aborted the day before it was due to take place,” a well-placed source told The Reporter. “CBE management is already facing pushback from employees and officials. The PM reportedly did not like that Amharic was omitted from the new logo.”

A bank employee confirmed to The Reporter that a rebranding campaign was indeed underway. A countdown timer on the employee interface of the bank’s digital portal reportedly vanished in the hours before it was set to hit zero as CBE executives quietly hit pause on their plans.

“We [employees] knew about the upcoming logo launch. But preparations and everything stopped abruptly last week,” said an employee at a CBE branch in Addis Ababa.

The preparations, according to the source, have consumed close to 600 million Birr. The staggering figure likely also includes expenses for reworking its digital platforms, replacing signage, letterheads, employee IDs and others at the more than 1,900 branches CBE operates across Ethiopia.

A design consultant who works with CBE argues that even still, the budget is too large, calling the new logo “amateur work.”

“With that much money, they could have recruited professional designers,” said the consultant.

In a text response to The Reporter’s inquiries about the rebranding campaign, CBE President Abie Sano wrote, “All you have mentioned here are not true facts.”

Attempts to contact other executives at CBE bore no fruit.

Another source who is familiar with the bank’s internal operations, however, alleges the likely abandoned logo redesign project is part of what he describes as “deep embezzlement schemes” at the state-owned behemoth.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are a lot of deep embezzlement schemes at the bank, and a lot of mismanagement,” the source said.

He pointed to a recent incident involving fraud, the CBE and billions of Birr as another example of the alleged criminality.

In May 2025, the CBE categorically denied allegations that more than 7.7 billion Birr (close to USD 60 million) was illicitly transferred from its internal accounts to individuals and businesses.

“No funds were stolen from our bank,” reads a CBE statement issued in response to the fraud allegations. “What occurred was attempted fraud, which was swiftly identified and stopped by our internal control systems before any money could be disbursed.”

However, last month, 14 individuals—including CBE employees and two financial intelligence officers from the National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS)—were formally charged with embezzlement and fraud for their part in an alleged scheme involving the diversion of 7.73 billion Birr from CBE internal accounts.

“They said it was an attempt and money wasn’t transferred, but it had already been transferred so they lied about it. The bank’s management is not taking responsibility for any of this,” said another source.