The restructuring of the Bureau De Change segment of the foreign exchange market has begun with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revoking the operational licenses of 4,173 of them.
The apex bank, in a statement by its Spokesperson, Mrs Sidi Ali Hakama, on Friday, said the action draws strength from the powers conferred on the CBN under the Bank and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020, Act No. 5 and the Revised Operational Guidelines for Bureaux De Change 2015 (the Guidelines).
According to the CBN, the list of affected BDC operators is available on the Bank’s website (www.cbn.gov.ng).
Hakama said: “The affected institutions failed to observe at least one of the following regulatory provisions: payment of all necessary fees, including licence renewal, within the stipulated period in line with the Guidelines; Rendition of returns in line with the Guidelines; Compliance with guidelines, directives and circulars of the CBN, particularly Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT)
and Counter-Proliferation Financing (CPF) regulations.
“The CBN is revising the regulatory and supervisory guidelines for Bureau de Change
operations in Nigeria. Compliance with the new requirements will be mandatory for all stakeholders in the sector when the revised guidelines become effective. Members of the public are hereby advised to take note and be guided accordingly”.
Last week, the CBN took audacious and radical steps to clean up the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment of the foreign exchange market.
It released new guidelines that jacked up the capital threshold for the renewal of a Tier 1 BDC licence to N2 billion from N35 million, while that of Tier 2 is N500 million.
Like a sting operation, the apex bank took the BDCs unawares and economic experts have hailed the move, charging the apex to take no prisoners as it struggles to snatch the FX market from manipulators and saboteurs, who have vandalised it in no small way.
