Berhan Bank, SantimPay Sign Deal to Deploy PoS Devices Across Ethiopia

SantimPay Financial Solutions and Berhan Bank have signed a strategic partnership agreement to deploy low-cost Point-of-Sale (POS) devices to merchants across Ethiopia.

The agreement, signed at Berhan Bank’s headquarters three days ago, positions SantimPay to support the bank in distributing POS devices and onboarding merchants, with the aim of significantly increasing payment acceptance points nationwide.

The collaboration comes as SantimPay gains momentum in Ethiopia’s digital payments sector. In September, the fintech announced a major partnership with global payments company Visa to deploy up to 20,000 POS devices over the next year. Under that arrangement, Visa will cover the upfront hardware cost, allowing SantimPay to offer the terminals to merchants at no charge.

POS adoption in Ethiopia has long remained limited. Commercial banks have historically concentrated deployments in select locations in Addis Ababa, citing high device and maintenance costs. Although the number of terminals has increased slightly in recent years, fewer than 10,000 active devices serve a market of more than 40 million cardholders, meaning most card users still rely primarily on ATMs for cash withdrawals. Increasingly, fintech companies are stepping in to expand POS distribution through new partnership models.

According to the latest figures from Ethiopia’s national switch operator, EthSwitch, 2.78 million interoperable POS transactions worth 7.2 Billion birr were recorded in 2024/25, a 24% increase from the previous year. Despite this progress, acceptance infrastructure remains far below demand.

The new SantimPay–Berhan Bank partnership seeks to help close that gap. “Berhan Bank is committed to accelerating Ethiopia’s digital economy through strategic partnerships and innovation,” said Ermias Tefera, President of Berhan Bank. “The expansion of our strategic partnership with SantimPay demonstrates our dedication to expanding merchant acceptance and achieving the goals set in our digital transformation strategy.”

SantimPay is emerging as a major player in POS expansion efforts. The company, licensed by the National Bank of Ethiopia in 2022, has begun assembling devices locally and reports that its terminals have processed more than 3 million Birr in daily transactions in recent months.

Tensaye Desalegn, CEO of SantimPay, said the strengthened partnership reflects the company’s broader ambition. “The expansion of our partnership with Berhan Bank marks another transformative moment for Ethiopia’s payments landscape.