2,698 Bureau de Change (BDC) operators have had thier operating permits revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which also made a list of dealers it had approved.
The apex bank’s most recent list indicates that there are now 2,991 authorized BDC dealers in total.
According to the document headed “Approved BDCs,” 2,698 BDCs have had their licenses revoked.
In a document headed “List of CBN Licensed Bureaux De Change As at December 31, 2021,” released by the Central Bank in 2022 and with the reference REF: FPR/DIR/PUB/CIR/001/037, the CBN had authorized 5,689 black market dealers.
In Nigeria, BDCs have a significant impact on exchange rates.
The number of operators increased from 74 in 2005 to 5,689 in 2021 before the Bola Tinubu administration.
Under Emefiele, the BDCs expanded by more than 100%. Later, due to round-tripping and participation in illicit financial flows, he outlawed the sale of foreign currency to BDCs.
Under Tinubu, the execution of important reforms such increasing the capitalization for BDC operators was advocated in a document titled “Policy Advisory Council Report: National Economy Sub-committee.”
The council also recommended that the CBN permit Nigerian banks to serve as the primary dealers for the FX market.
At the Investors’ and Exporters’ FX window, the naira has decreased to N795.28 since the CBN floated the currency in June.
The situation is worse on the black market, where the dollar closed for N820, the pound sterling at N1095, and the euro at N905.
Aminu Gwadebe, the president of the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), recently claimed that because BDCs are not included in the I&E window, the FX market will continue to be turbulent.
’The volatility of the naira continues to underpin the slow economic growth of Nigeria. The I&E window is laudable, it’s patriotic and nationalistic, but there is no policy that can actualize its mission without carrying the interest of the subsector (which is the BDCs).
“The I&E window is supposed to run on three legs, the banks, the CBN and the BDCs, overtly or covertly, the BDCs are missing,’’ said Gwadabe.