The Central Bank of Nigeria ("CBN") in exercise of the powers conferred on it under the Bank and Other Financial Institutions Act 2020 ("BOFIA"), Act No. 5, and the Revised Operational Guidelines for Bureaux De Change 2015 (the "Guidelines") has revoked the licenses of 4,173 Bureau De Change Operators ("BDCs"). The list of affected BDCs is available here.
The affected BDCs were penalised for not observing at least one of the following regulatory provisions in the Guidelines:
- Payment of all necessary fees, including licence renewal, within the stipulated period in line with the 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 decision to revoke licenses was made shortly after the CBN issued a draft Revised Regulatory and Supervisory Guidelines for Bureau De Change Operations in Nigeria. The aim of the draft revised Guidelines is to enhance transparency in the operations of BDCs in Nigeria.
Under the draft revised Guidelines, operators must have external auditors, digitally integrate with the CBN, and link all transactions to an active bank verification number ("BVN"). The CBN also introduced two categories of BDCs: Tier 1 and Tier 2 license holders. Additionally, the minimum capital requirement for both tiers was increased to N2 billion and N500 million, respectively.
The CBN is still revising the draft guidelines for Bureau de Change Operations in Nigeria, and compliance with the new requirements will be mandatory for all stakeholders in the sector when the draft revised guidelines become effective.
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