Bank Regulator Confirms Licences Of 2,699 BDCs - CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has said that 2,699 Bureau De Change (BDCs) operators complied with the new requirements for operations in the country by December 31, 2015.

The apex bank at the weekend published on its website a list entitled, “Confirmed BDCs in

compliance with the new requirements for the operations of BDCs in Nigeria as at December 31, 2015.”

The CBN had in September published a list of 2,765 licensed BDCs, which it said had complied with its new N35 million capitalisation requirements and another N35 million cautionary deposit for operators.

There were 3,208 registered BDCs in the country before the expiration of the deadline on July 31 2014 for operators to recapitalise.

LEADERSHIP recalls that the CBN had, in a statement in June 2014, raised the minimum capital requirement for Bureau de Change (BDC) operations in Nigeria from N10 million to N35 million.

The regulator said it introduced the new requirements in a bid to correct observed deficiencies in the operations of BDCs in Nigeria which, it noted, had led to gross inefficiency and sharp practices in the foreign exchange market, rent-seeking, depletion of the external reserves, financing of unauthorised transactions and dollarisation, among others.

CBN also reviewed the mandatory cautionary deposit for BDCs to N35 million, adding that the fee shall be deposited in a non-interest yielding account in the CBN upon the granting of approval-in-principle.

In addition, while the application fee was raised to N100,000, the licensing fee to N1 million, the annual renewal fee for the forex dealers was also increased to N250,000.

All existing BDCs and those currently operating with a final approval letter were expected to comply with the new mandatory cautionary deposit requirements.

Credit: Leadership

Also last month, CBN published revised guidelines for the operations of BDCs which ordered BDCs to close all branches within 90 days, saying branch operations is no longer allowed in the subsector.

The apex bank also published the list of licensed micro finance banks in the country. According to the list, there are 958 licensed MFBs in the country by December 31, 2015.