Bureau de Change (BDC) operators have praised the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for waiving the 2025 licence fees for operators.
They spoke under the aegis of the Association of Bureau de Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON).
The President of the association, Dr Aminu Gwadabe, gave the commendation on Wednesday in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
Gwadabe thanked the management of the apex bank for waiving the annual licence renewal fee, which he described as an amnesty extended to his members.
According to him, the move underscores the CBN’s commitment to implementing the new financial capitalisation requirements for BDCs.
These include a capital requirement of N500 million for Tier 2 operators and N2 billion for Tier 1 operators.
Gwadabe urged his members to merge and meet the new capital requirements before the extended deadline of June 2025.
“We are willing to continue to collaborate, cooperate, and comply with extant rules and regulations,” he said.
He also appreciated the CBN’s launch of the Nigeria Foreign Exchange (FX) Code, designed to promote ethical conduct among dealers in the market.
Gwadabe stated: “It will address issues such as opaqueness in transactions, rate wars among participants, and lateness in submitting returns on spot transactions.”
However, he expressed concerns that banks have not been complying with the CBN’s directive to sell dollars to BDC operators since September 2024.
He noted that this was despite the positive impact of the announcement on the market.
NAN reports that the apex bank approved the waiver of the 2025 annual licence renewal fee for all existing BDC operators on Tuesday in Abuja.
The waiver applied to all existing operators and took immediate effect.
The directive was communicated in a circular directing the implementation of the Regulatory and Supervisory Guidelines for Bureau de Change Operations in Nigeria in 2024.
Gwadabe said that ABCON, as the umbrella body of licensed bureaux de change operators and a self-regulatory organisation, plays a critical role in the retail FX sector of the market.
According to him, this role makes the association a bridge between regulators and security agencies.
He said the association was committed to ensuring that its members always fulfil their role in the market by facilitating effective and transparent demand-utilisation transactions.
He added that this mechanism was crucial for the apex bank’s smooth running of the FX market.
“We are willing to continue to collaborate, cooperate, and comply with extant rules and regulations,” he said.
