CBN Revokes Licenses Of 4, 173 BDCs For Flouting Regulatory Provisions

· Says Affected BDCs Failed Anti-Money Laundering, AML, CFT, Other Regulations

In a bid to sanitise the Foreign Exchange market in Nigeria, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Friday, March 1, 2024 announced the revocation of the licenses of 4,173 Bureau De Change (BDC) operators in the country.

The CBN’s Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Sidi Ali Hakama, made this known in a statement issued on Friday in Abuja.

She said the affected institutions failed to observe regulatory provisions.

She listed the regulatory provisions to include payment of all necessary fees 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.

The action, according to the spokesperson, was in line with powers conferred on the CBN under the Bank and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020, Act No. 5, and the Revised Operational Guidelines for Bureau De Change 2015 (the Guidelines).

It would be recalled that the apex bank on Tuesday approved the allocation of $20,000 each to all BDC operators in the country as part of its ongoing reform in the industry.