The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has revoked the licenses of 4,173 Bureaux De Change Operators, accusing the affected institutions of failing to observe regulatory provisions.
This was disclosed in a statement by the bank’s Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Sidi Ali Hakama.
According to the apex bank, the move is part of efforts to restore confidence in the nation’s foreign exchange market.
Noting that the list of affected BDC operators is available on its website, the CBN said it is revising the regulatory and supervisory guidelines for Bureau de Change operations in Nigeria, adding that compliance with the new requirements will be mandatory for all stakeholders in the sector.
It stated that the action is an exercise of the powers conferred on it under the Bank and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020, Act No. 5, and the Revised Operational Guidelines for Bureaux De Change 2015 (the Guidelines).
These, according to the bank, include payment of all necessary fees, including licence renewal, within the stipulated period in line with Guidelines, rendition of returns in line with the Guidelines, and compliance with guidelines, directives and circulars of the CBN, particularly Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) and Counter-Proliferation Financing (CPF) regulations.
Nigeria is battling rising inflation, food inflation, forex crisis, economic hardship and high cost of living occasioned by the removal of petrol subsidy, attracting protests in parts of the country.
The Nigerian naira has seen a dip in the last nine months since the President Bola Tinubu administration collapsed the foreign exchange window. The naira experienced an all-time low, falling from about N700/$1 last May to over N1500/$1 at the moment.
The apex bank chief said anti-corruption agencies, the police and the Office of the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, were coordinating an investigation into cryptocurrency exchanges.
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