THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed all Bureau de Change operators (BDCs) in the country to reapply for new operational licences by June 3 in order to continue to operate in the country’s foreign exchange (forex) market.
In addition, the BDCs are expected to meet the new requirement of N2billion for tier 1 and N500million for tier 2 operators announced in the revised Regulatory and Supervisory Guidelines for Bureau de Change (BDC) Operations in Nigeria earlier in February.
The CBN, in a circular issued on Wednesday, May 22 and signed by its Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Haruna Mustafa, said the guidelines were part of reforms to re-position the BDC sub-sector to play its envisioned role in the foreign exchange market in Nigeria.
The guidelines, among others, introduced new licencing requirements and categories of BDCs and revised the permissible activities, financial requirements, corporate governance requirements and AML/CFT/CPF provisions for BDCs.
The statement said: “All existing BDCs shall re-apply for a new licence according to any of the Tiers or licence category of their choice, as provided in the guidelines and meet the minimum capital requirements for the licence category applied for within six months from the effective date of the guidelines.”
