The Central Bank of Nigeria has directed all bureau de change (BDC) operators in the country to reapply for new licences by June 3, 2024 and meet the new deadline of N2 billion for tier 1 and N500 million for tier 2 operators.
A new minimum capital for BDCs had been announced in the revised Regulatory and Supervisory Guidelines for BDC Operations in Nigeria, in February this year. A circular issued yesterday and signed by CBN director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Haruna Mustafa, had given the latest directive.
According to the circular, the guidelines are part of reforms to re-position the BDC sub-sector to play its envisioned role in the foreign exchange market in Nigeria.
The Guidelines, amongst others, introduced new licensing requirements and categories of BDCs as well as revised the permissible activities, financial requirements, corporate governance requirements and AML/CFT/CPF provisions for BDCs.
Consequently, it said “all existing BDCs shall re-apply for a new licence according to any of the tiers or licence categories of their choice as provided in the Guidelines and meet the minimum capital requirements for the license category applied for within six months from the effective date of the Guidelines.”
Also, applicants for new BDC licences are required to meet the conditions for the grant of licence in accordance with the tier or category of BDC chosen as stipulated in the Guidelines.
BDC operators are also expected to submit the names of a promoter, name of the proposed BDC, e-mail address of the promoter and phone number of the promoter.
LEADERSHIP recalls that in March, the CBN had revoked the licences of 4,173 BDC operators for failing to observe regulatory provisions. A statement signed by Sidi Ali, CBN’s acting director, corporate communications, explained that the BDCs failed to observe at least one of its regulatory provisions, such as payment of all necessary fees, including licence renewal, within the stipulated period in line with the guidelines.
Currently, the number of BDCs stands at 5,690, according to data from the CBN.