Abstract:
This paper examines the legal and practical hurdles of employees’ participation in the governance of financial institutions in Ethiopia. Thus, to such end, both doctrinal and non-doctrinal research methods were employed to undertake the research. The study has explored the legal provisions, regulatory frameworks, and practices that restrict employees’ participation in the governance of financial institutions. Furthermore, the study has also analyzed annual reports of selected financial institutions and circulars. Hence, interviews and field observation were done to accomplish the study. Consequently, the findings proved that while there were legal provisions that allow employees’ participation in the governance of financial institutions, the practical implementation of these provisions was seriously hampered by the Directive issued by the NBE. The study recommends that the NBE the one which has direct power to regulate financial institutions needs to reconsider its Directive on the way that financial institutions’ employees are represented in the governance of such institutions