Banks in Djibouti

The Banque Centrale de Djibouti, or BCD, is the central bank and supervises banking, currency and payment systems under Loi n°119/AN/11/6ème L. A financial institution may not operate banking services without a BCD licence. The Direction de la Supervision Bancaire (DSB) carries out ongoing off-site and on-site supervision. The BCD's 2024 snapshot recorded 14 credit institutions: 9 conventional institutions, 3 Islamic institutions and 2 Islamic agencies. The BCD directory also lists 10 conventional banks, including Banque Misr Djibouti in 2025, and Islamic banks such as SABA, Salaam African Bank and East Africa Bank. CAC Islamic Bank operates an Islamic window according to 2024 information. Ownership includes institutions from France, Morocco, China, Yemen and the wider subregion. The Djibouti franc (DJF) is the national currency. The BCD reports a fixed parity of 1 USD = 177.721 DJF and free convertibility without general foreign-exchange controls. Banks offer accounts and deposits in DJF, USD and other currencies. Common products include current accounts, savings accounts, fixed-term deposits, certificates of deposit, salary accounts, junior accounts and diaspora accounts. Availability and conditions depend on the bank. In 2024, customer deposits totalled 487,305 million DJF: 323,757 million in current accounts, 35,957 million in savings accounts, 123,885 million in term deposits and 3,706 million in certificates of deposit. Average deposit remuneration was 1.26%, with 1.35% for private customers. Islamic deposit or investment accounts require the customer's express consent and may provide a share of profit together with a possible share of loss. Opening an account normally requires a valid national identity card and proof of address for a Djiboutian citizen. A non-Djiboutian generally provides a passport, a valid visa or residence permit and a local or permanent address. A bank may also request proof of income, a payslip, a recent residence document or photographs. Both holders usually attend in person to open a joint account. Minimum balances, required documents, processing time and fees vary by bank and account type. Examples published by banks include BCIMR Inclusion accounts below 40,000 DJF with a 350 DJF monthly charge including account maintenance and a Visa Classic card, BOA savings accounts with a 10,000 DJF minimum payment and no account-maintenance fee, and Exim savings accounts without an opening minimum but with up to four withdrawals per year. Payments use cash, cheques, domestic and international transfers, Visa or local cards, ATMs, point-of-sale terminals and QR payments. The SYRAD national payment system has operated since 15 July 2021. The BCD operates RTGS for high-value real-time settlement and ACH for automated clearing; interbank payments can be made in DJF and USD, with ISO 20022 standards and rules for liquidity and finality. The BCD's 2024 report planned the completion of SCEFTI and the end of manual cheque clearing by 31 December 2025, but completion was not confirmed in the reviewed 2026 sources, so cheque procedures should be checked with the bank. Banks issue Visa Classic, Gold and Platinum cards and, depending on the provider, local cards. Cards may support domestic or international ATM withdrawals, e-commerce with 3D Secure or Visa Secure, contactless payments and point-of-sale transactions. Limits and fees are bank-specific; BCIMR publishes a contactless limit of 10,000 DJF. Do not assume that every card works across every ATM, terminal or digital service without checking the issuing bank. Digital services are expanding. In 2024, five banks offered mobile financial services and two banks had partnerships with electronic-money issuers. Examples include BCIMR Connect, BOA MyBOA and BOAweb, CAC MyCAC and CACPay, and the Exim app. Depending on the provider, these services allow account access, domestic and international transfers, bill payments, alerts, electronic statements, RIB requests, cheque orders, QR payments and ATM or branch searches. D-Money and WAAFI are electronic-money wallet services. In 2024, active electronic-money accounts totalled 142,681, with 14,876,739 transactions worth 73,117.4 million DJF, mainly peer-to-peer transfers, wallet loading and cash-out. CPECD and CPEC Nord provide community-based microfinance for lower-income urban and peri-urban groups and can complement a bank, but they are not full-service banks. Regional access is uneven: most published bank addresses are in Djibouti City, while CPECS Ali Sabieh and CPECN Tadjourah provide identified community access points. No complete regional branch statistic was established in the available sources. Banks handle account support, card services and complaints through branches, customer advisers and digital support. Report a lost or stolen card immediately and request blocking. Do not disclose PINs, passwords or one-time codes by email or telephone; monitor account activity and report suspicious transactions promptly. Customer information, source of funds and beneficial ownership may be checked under Djibouti's anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing rules. Transactions above 1,000,000 DJF or transactions that are unusual or insufficiently explained can trigger enhanced checks and a confidentiality report. Customers must keep identity and contact information current and provide accurate information about the source of funds. The bank must apply contractual authentication, retain required records and process customer complaints. Complaints normally begin with the bank; a documented escalation to the BCD may be possible. The reviewed BCD sources did not establish a general binding banking ombudsman or a general deposit-insurance fund, so customers should ask the bank which protections and escalation channels apply to the specific product.