(BAO) was an early attempt to establish modern banking in the

Horn of Africa The Horn of Africa (HoA), also known as the Somali Peninsula, is a large peninsula and geopolitical region in East Africa.Robert Stock, ''Africa South of the Sahara, Second Edition: A Geographical Interpretation'', (The Guilford Press; 2004), ...

at a time when

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

and

Italian Somaliland Italian Somalia ( it, Somalia Italiana; ar, الصومال الإيطالي, Al-Sumal Al-Italiy; so, Dhulka Talyaaniga ee Soomaalida), was a protectorate and later colony of the Kingdom of Italy in present-day Somalia. Ruled in the 19th centur ...

were Italian colonies. It closed in 1923.

History

During early

WW1 World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, the Italian government wanted the creation of a local bank in the Italian colonies of eastern Africa. It was the first tentative to create a modern banking system in all colonial Africa. In 1914 the central "Bank of Italy" started to operate in Asmara and promoted the creation of private banks — like the "BAO" — in the Italian colonies. The (BIS) was a leading Italian bank that indirectly supported the BAO, but BSI failed in 1921, leading to the failure of the BAO a few years later. *1917 -BIS promoted the formation of the ''Banca per l’Africa Orientale'' as a joint stock company in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. *1918 - BAO commenced operations with head office in

Massawa Massawa ( ; ti, ምጽዋዕ, məṣṣəwaʿ; gez, ምጽዋ; ar, مصوع; it, Massaua; pt, Maçuá) is a port city in the Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea, located on the Red Sea at the northern end of the Gulf of Zula beside the Dahlak ...

and a branch in

Mogadishu Mogadishu (, also ; so, Muqdisho or ; ar, مقديشو ; it, Mogadiscio ), locally known as Xamar or Hamar, is the capital and List of cities in Somalia by population, most populous city of Somalia. The city has served as an important port ...

that was the first bank in Somalia. *1923 - BAO was liquidated following problems at the bank and the failure of . In late 1923 the ''Banca per l'Africa Orientale'' was officially closed.Arnaldo Mauri, ''Eritrea's early stages in monetary and banking development'', Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento di Economia, Management e Metodi quantitativi, WP n. 28, 2003
/ref>

Notes

Bibliography

* Falchero, Maria. ''La Banca Italiana di Sconto, 1914-1921. Sette anni di guerra'' Franco Angeli. Milano, 1990 * Mauri, Arnaldo (1998), "The First Monetary and Banking Experiences in Eritrea". ''African Review of Money, Finance and Banking'', n. 1-2: pp. 67-84.

History

Notes

Bibliography

See also