Abebaw, Kassie (PhD)Yikeber, Zigale2019-01-172023-11-192019-01-172023-11-192018-11http://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/12345678/15877A Thesis Submitted To the School Of Graduate Studies of Addis Ababa University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Business Administration (In Finance)This research project was aimed to describe the challenge and prospects of mobile and agent banking adoption in Ethiopian banking industry. In order to achieve the objective of this study and answer the research questions the researcher adopted mixed research approach. This descriptive study was conducted based on the data gathered from purposively selected e-banking staffs of the six banks commencing mobile and agent banking; Commercial bank of Ethiopia Dashen Bank, United Bank, Lion International Bank, Wegagen bank and Cooperative Bank of Oromia. The data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics. The study revealed that environmental (lack of adequate ICT infrastructure, poor quality of internet and mobile network, inconsistent power & network supply in rural areas of the country), organizational (lack of support & commitment of top level management, lack of availability of well trained manpower to build agent network, lack of skill of IT personnel, lack of technical an d managerial skill of staffs), and technological (lack of confidence with the security aspect, customer’s fear of risk of new technology innovation, and lack of availability of physical security) are challenges of adopting mobile and agent banking. The study also revealed that, the major prospects of adopting mobile and agent banking classified under perceived ease and perceived usefulness are simplicity to perform banking tasks, easiness to understand and use, friendliness with the existing service offering, improving customer service being a solution for banks closing their doors early, motivates fast small cash movers to put their extra money into the banking system, creating wider market coverage for the bank, increases the productivity of banks, enhance customer service, and accessibility of service without limit of time and place. The study recommended banks to consider technology based competition, regulatory body to issue suitable legal frameworks to ease the adoption of mobile and agent banking syste m while the government should support banking sector by investing on ICT infrastructure development and financial education program.en-USAdoptionAgent bankingBanking industryMobile BankingThesis