BOL Foundation Day in Laos Date in the current year: October 7, 2024

From 1896 to 1952 (except for a brief period of independence in 1945), the piastre de commerce (French Indochinese piaster) was the official currency of Laos and the rest of French Indochina. When France finally recognized the independence of Laos, the Lao branch of the Institute of Issuance of French Indochina was reorganized into the National Bank of Laos.

In 1952, the National Bank of Laos began to issue notes denominated in the Lao kip, the new national currency of Laos. Following the beginning of the Laotian Civil War, the Pathet Lao (a communist political movement and organization that initiated the war) started to issue its own currency, the Pathet Lao kip. The notes were issued by the Central Treasury established on October 7, 1968.

In 1973, the Central Treasury was renamed the Bank of Laos. Following the end of the civil war and the proclamation of the Lao P.D.R. in 1975, the Bank of Laos merged with the National Bank of Laos and other bank institutions to form the Bank of the Lao P.D.R. (BOL). However, BOL Foundation Day marks the anniversary of the establishment of the Central Treasury during the Civil War.