Thesis (M.A.) from the year 2011 in the subject Business economics - Banking, Stock Exchanges, Insurance, Accounting, grade: Very Good, Mekelle University, language: English, abstract: The objective of the study was to compare the financial performance of commercial Banks by using their average ratio in terms of profitability, liquidity, efficiency, and solvency. In this study by using excel analyzed information was presented by statistical measures like graphs and tables. Both the trend and comparative financial performance analysis approaches were used. Five years audited financial reports from 2005 to 2009 of the commercial banks were taken for comparison purpose. Those commercial banks taken for comparison were Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, Dashen Bank Share Company, Bank of Abyssinia, United Bank, Wegagen Bank, and Nib International Bank. Year of establishment, amount of capital reserve, and number of branches are taken as a criterion for selecting these commercial banks for analysis purpose. In addition to data gathered from secondary sources, unstructured interview was conducted on problem and prospects related to the financial performance of commercial banks and the responses were presented. The respective ratios of each bank are compared with the average ratios of the six commercial banks taken for the study. Then trend analyses of six commercial banks taken in this study are presented by using the above ratios. In both the financial performance analysis approaches i.e., the trend and comparative analysis, Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) showed good performance in financial ratios of Profitability, Liquidity, and Solvency ratio, but Bank of Abyssinia(BOA) has showed weak performance in all above explained financial ratios. From this, it is concluded that CBE was profitable and functionally efficient and BOA is less profitable and the earning capacity of the bank is weak. Therefore, in order to improve profitability the management of BOA must increase management efficiency by reducing administrative expenses to the best possible level, efficiently control costs and utilize customers deposit, dispose of the assets which are not contributing for the profitability of the banks and work to maximize the overall profitability of the bank through investing in profitable avenue.