By Adedapo Adesanya
The Association of Bureaux de Change of Nigeria (ABCON) has finally broken its silence on the stoppage of foreign exchange (FX) sales to its members by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The president of ABCON, Mr Aminu Gwadabe, while reacting to the issue, disclosed that its members would continue to offer forex services to its customers.
According to him, the CBN pronouncement does not stop BDCs from providing FX services as guaranteed by their operating licenses and contained in the operating guidelines.
“BDCs are licensed to provide retail FX services, including buying from the public and also selling to end-users for allowable transactions namely Personal Travel Allowance (PTA), Business Travel Allowance (BTA), payment of medical and school fees.
“While the CBN has stopped dollar sales to BDCs, it has not cancelled their operating licenses or banned them from providing FX services to members of the public. At ABCON, we urge our members to see the CBN pronouncement as a wake-up call and opportunity to widen their customer base and deepen their business.
“ABCON has always worked with the CBN to ensure proper working of the FX market and in line with this principle, we will engage with the apex bank to address and resolve all the issues that led to the recent action, including identification and sanctioning of earring BDCs, where necessary,” Mr Gwadabe said.
He said the association would work with relevant stakeholders, including law enforcement agencies, “to develop a national BDC policy with the aim of enhancing the contribution of the BDC subsector to the nation’s economy.”
Recall that the CBN on Wednesday directed that the BDCs should write a letter requesting refunds of their capital deposits and licencing fees.
The regulator called on affected parties to file requests for the refund through the Director of Financial Policy and Regulation Department.
It also directed banks to “henceforth stop accepting instruction from customers to transfer the capital deposit of N35 million to the designated CBN account for the purpose of applying for BDC licence”
On Tuesday, the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, had announced that the apex bank would no longer issue new licences to BDC operators, noting that those who have already applied would be rejected.
Dipo Olowookere