Dr Aklilu Wubet leads Wegagen Bank, one of Ethiopia’s established private banks, as its seventh president, a role he assumed in 2022 after rising through nearly every tier of the country’s banking industry. His appointment, confirmed by the National Bank of Ethiopia, capped a career of more than 25 years and placed a seasoned insider at the helm at a testing moment for the institution. A native of Addis Ababa, Aklilu built his expertise across many of Ethiopia’s leading financial houses.
He began at the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia before a formative decade at Bank of Abyssinia, where he rose to Vice President for Corporate Services, overseeing functions from IT and e-banking to credit. He also served as a Vice President at Nile Insurance, and returned to Wegagen in 2021 as Vice President for Corporate Services, steering the bank as acting president before his formal elevation. His leadership blends a practitioner’s experience with scholarship: he has taught economics and accounting at Addis Ababa University and other institutions, and has pursued advanced study in banking. Under his stewardship, Wegagen has worked to strengthen performance through a period marked by pandemic and domestic upheaval. An effort recognised in 2025 when he received the African Banking Leadership Excellence Award at the ALM Africa Summit in London. Steady and reform-minded, Aklilu embodies the disciplined, home-grown leadership shaping Ethiopia’s fast-liberalising banking sector.
