The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said it will stop licensing new Bureau De Change (BDC) operators.
This disclosure was made by the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, while reading the communique after the 2-day Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on Tuesday, July 27, 2021.
Emefiele said that the CBN receives about 574 license applications from BDCs every month adding that there are currently 5,500 licensed BDC operators across the country.
Emefiele also said that the apex bank will stop selling forex to BDCs, saying that the CBN will channel the sale of foreign exchange to banks henceforth, adding that all banks should create a teller point for sale and disbursement of forex to their customers.
The apex bank boss also accused the operators of aiding money laundering and illegal financial inflows.
“They have turned themselves away from their objectives,” he said.
“They are now agents that facilitate graft and corruption in the country.
“We cannot continue with the bad practices that are happening at the BDC market.”
He said evidence abounded that several international organisations and embassies patronised BDCs through illegal FX dealers to fund their institutions, ICIR reports.
He said the CBN would channel weekly dollar sales to commercial banks to meet legitimate forex demands of Nigerians.
The bank warned that it would ‘deal ruthlessly’ with banks allowing illegal forex dealers to use their platforms, promising to report defaulting international organisations to their regulators.
“We will deal with them ruthlessly, and we will report the international bodies,” he said.
An economist said the ban would worsen dollar availability in the country, noting that “getting FX from BDCs is easier than banks. So, tightening it by taking it to the banks might help curb fraud, but it would make access difficult. I hope the CBN takes care of that.”
