15 November 1920, the
Banca d'Italia opened a branch in
Mogadishu. This was the first banking institution in
Italian Somaliland. Then in 1938
Banco di Napoli established a branch in
Mogadishu. (Banco di Napoli replaced
Cassa di Risparmio di Torino, which had opened an office in Mogadishu in 1932). In 1952,
National Bank of India (NBI), which later merged with Grindlays Bank to form
National and Grindlays Bank, established branches in
Berbera and
Hargeisa in
British Somaliland (now
Somaliland). NBI was the first bank in British Somaliland and was the banker to the colonial government until the
State of Somaliland (the former British Somaliland) joined the
Trust Territory of Somalia (the former Italian Somaliland) to form the
Somali Republic in 1960. After the union, National and Grindlays opened a branch in Mogadishu. In 1940, there were five local bank branches in Italian Somaliland. Banca d'Italia had three: in Mogadishu,
Kismayo and
Merca.
Banco di Roma had two branches; one in Mogadishu and another in Merca. Banco di Napoli had one in Mogadishu. Both Banco di Roma and Banco di Napoli also had branches in other parts of the region, in
Eritrea and
Ethiopia. On 1 July 1960, the newly independent Somali Republic established the
Banca Nazionale Somala (National Bank of Somalia) to take over the activities of the
Cassa per la Circolazione Monetaria della Somali and the Mogadishu branch of
Banca d'Italia. The new bank combined central banking activities with
commercial banking activities. In 1968, the
Somali Republic's civilian government merged the Somali Credit Bank (Credito Somalo) with the Banca Nazionale Somala. The earlier trusteeship administration had established the Somali Credit Bank in 1954 in the
Trust Territory of Somalia. After the bloodless
coup d'état of 1969 that saw
Mohamed Siad Barre's ascension to power, the government in 1971 nationalized the four foreign banks. The government combined
Banco di Roma,
Banco di Napoli, and National and Grindlays Bank to form the Somali Commercial Bank. The government also established the
Somali Savings and Credit Bank to take over the commercial branches of Banca Nazionale Somala and
Banque de Port-Said, leaving the Banca Nazionale Somala with only central banking functions. The Somali Savings and Credit Bank had branches in
Baidoa,
Beledweyne,
Berbera,
Bosaso,
Burco,
Galkacyo,
Qardho,
Hargeisa and
Kismayo, and for a while in
Djibouti. The Somali Savings and Credit Bank had been established with the technical assistance and aid provided by the
Associazione Bancaria Italiana in the context of an overall cooperation policy of the European savings banks. On 8 February 1975, the government renamed the Banca Nazionale Somala to the Central Bank of Somalia (Bankiga Dhexe ee Soomaaliya). It also merged the Somali Commercial Bank and Somali Savings and Credit Bank (Cassa di Risparmio e Credito della Somalia) to form the Commercial and Savings Bank of Somalia, which was at the time the only bank in the country. In 1990 the Commercial and Savings Bank of Somalia discontinued operations. At some point the Central Bank of Somalia too ceased functioning. In 2009, the
Transitional Federal Government re-opened the Central Bank of Somalia in Mogadishu as part of its campaign to restore national institutions. The Bank had an additional branch in Baidoa that was already operational with personnel in place. In September 2013,
Yussur A.F. Abrar was named the new Governor of the Central Bank of Somalia. A former Vice-President at
Citigroup and Vice-President of Credit Risk Management at the
American International Group, she was the first woman to have been appointed to the position. In November 2013,
Bashir Isse was appointed on an interim basis as Somalia's Central Bank Governor, following the resignation of his predecessor Abrar earlier in the month. In April 2014, the federal Cabinet approved Isse as the new permanent Central Bank Governor.
Maryan Abdullahi Yusuf was also named his new Deputy Governor. ==Organizational structure==