TIMELINE
1936: Banco di Napoli (BN) branch opened in Asmara.
1937: BN branch opened in Dekemhare.
1937: BN branch opened in Massawa.
1947: BN Dekemhare branch closed.
1947: BN Massawa branch closed.
1970: BN Asmara branch closed.

In the early 1930s, against the backdrop of the Kingdom of Italy's military operations in its colony, Italian Eritrea, in preparation for the war against Ethiopia as well as the eagerness of Italian banks to establish a presence in that country, Banco di Napoli (BN), having obtained authorization to do so through Italy's Ministerial Decree of 12 November 1935, set up a branch in Asmara. In 1937 the bank opened two more branches in Massawa and Dekemhare, both of which would be closed in 1947 in the aftermath of World War II.
The British Controller of Finance and Accounts would also authorize BN's Asmara branch (which had in the meantime been downgraded to a first-tier agency) to reopen on 1 July 1951.
In 1969 a process was launched to transform the Asmara agency into an Ethiopian company called Banco di Napoli (Ethiopia) Share Company; the former branch ceased operating altogether in 1970.