The Central Bank of Nigeria on Friday revoked the licences of 4,173 Bureau De Change operators over their failure to meet regulatory guidelines.
The apex bank disclosed this in a statement by its acting Director, Corporate Communications, Sidi Hakama.
This means there will now be 1,517 operational BDCs from the initial 5,690.
However, the President, Association of Bureau De Change of Nigeria, Aminu Gwadabe, when contacted for comments on the development, told one of our correspondents that he wanted to pray at some minutes before 8pm
Subsequent calls to his line were not taken.
In the CBN statement, Hakama said the licence withdrawal was in exercise of the powers conferred on the apex bank by the Bank and Other Financial Institutions Act, 2020, Act No. 5, and the Revised Operational Guidelines for Bureaux De Change, 2015.
The statement read in part, “The Central Bank of Nigeria, in the exercise of the powers conferred on it under the Bank and Other Financial Institutions Act, 2020, Act No. 5, and the Revised Operational Guidelines for Bureaux De Change, 2015, has revoked the licences of 4,173 Bureaux De Change Operators.
Recall that the CBN had recently introduced a draft guideline for BDC operations across the country.
Major provisions introduced in the guidelines include the introduction of N2bn minimum share capital for Tier-1 BDCs, limiting buying and selling of forex in cash by BDCs to $500, and $10,000-year limit for school fees, among others.
Reacting to the development, the Chief Executive Officer of the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, Dr Muda Yusuf, applauded the move to regulate the operations of the BDCs.
He said, “Definitely, revoking the licences of non-operational BDCs is the appropriate thing to do now. It is the right move because the previous number was difficult to manage and unwieldy.”
