National Bank of Egypt
The Bank of Abyssinia was established in 1905 by Emperor Menelik and the European banking group behind the National Bank of Egypt; the bank was officially inaugurated by Menelik on 15 February 1906. The Ethiopian coinage gained acceptance only gradually, and Bank of Abyssinia imported Maria Theresa "thalers". By the time World War I broke out, the bank was still importing about 1,200,000 of these coins annually. Bank of Abyssinia put banknotes into circulation in 1915. These notes were denominated "birr" in Amharic and "thaler" in English. They were used by merchants and by foreigners but were not initially accepted generally. However, Note circulation increased considerably after 1925.