CBN Withdraws 2,698 BDCs Licences In One Year

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released an updated list of Bureau de Change (BDCs) dealers approved in the country.

According to the list published by the apex bank, the total number of approved BDC operators reduced to 2,991.

The document titled ‘Approved BDCs’, obtained by Economic Confidential revealed that the licences of 2,698 BDCs had been withdrawn.

In 2022, the Central Bank published a similar list in a document with reference: REF: FPR/DIR/PUB/CIR/001/037, titled, ‘List of CBN licenced Bureaux De Change as at December 31, 2021’ where the CBN had approved 5,689 dealers.

Economic Confidential also observed that the operators had grown from 74 in 2005 to 5,689 in 2021.

The number of BDCs grew by more than 100 per cent under the former CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, who banned the sale of foreign exchange to BDCs over round tripping and involvement in illegal financial flows.

Under the new administration, a document titled ‘Policy advisory council report: National economy sub-committee’, advised an implementation of key reforms like raising the capitalisation for BDC operators.

Another suggestion by the council was that the CBN should allow the Nigerian banks to operate as the primary dealers to supply the forex market.