The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria, an umbrella body for over 5,300 licensed Bureaux De Change, has advised the Central Bank of Nigeria to de-risk BDCs’ operations to allow operators access foreign exchange from autonomous sources in 2022 and beyond.
The President, ABCON, Alhaji, Aminu Gwadabe, said in a statement on Sunday that the BDC subsector was becoming comatose since July 2021 Monetary Policy Committee meeting where the CBN suspended weekly dollar interventions to the BDCs.
According to him, while BDCs are licensed to offer retail forex sales across the counter forex transactions, they equally contribute to Nigeria’s economic development.
He said the BDCs were ensuring order and confidence in the forex market, providing data for monetary policy and channels for CBN intervention in the retail forex market as well as the creation of over 15,000 jobs, among others.
Gwadabe said over N1tn annual transaction volume by the BDCs subsector was under threat while huge capital investment was becoming redundant, gradually being eroded and winding up.
He advised that just like the apex bank de-risked the agricultural sector by making it easier for agriculturalists to access cheaper loans at single digit from banks, the CBN could also de-risk the BDCs’ operations to enable them to receive diaspora remittances through the International Money Supply Operators and deepen foreign capital flows to the economy.
“ABCON understands the challenges faced by the apex bank due to the dwindling foreign reserves, declining oil output and oil theft, COVID-19-induced economic pains, fiscal policy challenges, debt burden and election spending, which are making it difficult for the CBN to sustain weekly dollar interventions to BDCs,” he said.
He suggested that the BDCs should be allowed to “access dollars or diaspora remittances through the autonomous forex windows such as allowing operators to receive IMTOs’ proceeds, carrying out online dollar operations and Point of Sale agency, among others”.
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He said that ABCON has developed multiple applications for BDCs’ transformation from being CBN cash dispensers to globally competitive entities with capacity to attract foreign capital flows to the economy.
Gwadabe said, “We support any measures that would lead to compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism, supporting CBN’s exchange rate stability policies and security agencies to punish any BDC operator breaching corporate governance and compliance guidelines.
“It is our sincere belief that the BDCs need to be integrated back officially to ensure their continuous potent role in exchange rate stability management.”
