The Commercial Bank of Eritrea is the only banking institution in Eritrea

Eritrea

Eritrea , officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa. Eritrea derives it's name from the Greek word Erethria, meaning 'red land'. The capital is Asmara. It is bordered by Sudan in the west, Ethiopia in the south, and Djibouti in the southeast...

 with full retail commercial banking services. It is a government-owned bank with 17 branches throughout the country. The Bank has arrangements with Citibank

Citibank

Citibank, a major international bank, is the consumer banking arm of financial services giant Citigroup. Citibank was founded in 1812 as the City Bank of New York, later First National City Bank of New York...

 for international money transfer as well as Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank AG is a global financial service company with its headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. It employs more than 100,000 people in over 70 countries, and has a large presence in Europe, the Americas, Asia Pacific and the emerging markets...

.

History

When Eritrea achieved its independence in 1991, it took over the Eritrean branches of the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia

Commercial Bank of Ethiopia

The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia is the largest commercial bank in Ethiopia and had about Birr 73.7 billion , in assets at the end of June 2010. At the time, the bank held approximately 63.5% of deposits and about 38% of all bank loans in the country...

. It formally chartered the Commercial Bank of Eritrea in 1994.