ABCON sensitises BDCs on BVN validation using NIBSS portal

The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) in collaboration with the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) has carried out a comprehensive sensitisation of Bureaux de Change (BDCs) on usage and deployment of Bank Verification Number (BVN) Validation Portal provided by NIBBS.

This is even as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday, October 27, 2017, injected a total of $285,759,449.10 into the Inter-Bank Foreign Exchange Market to meet requests in four sectors of the economy.

Details obtained from the CBN indicate that the agricultural, airlines, petroleum and raw materials were the four sectors that received various sums of allocation forex allocation from the CBN based on requests put forward by their respective banks.

Confirming the figures, the Acting Director, Corporate Communications Department, CBN, Isaac Okorafor, said the releases underlined the high levels of transparency of the bank in foreign exchange management.

Speaking on the exercise, ABCON President, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, said the BVN validation sensitisation programme was part of the confidence-building agenda of the association to ensure that BDC operators abide by the rules guiding the Nigerian Foreign Exchange (Forex) Market.

He said the sensitisation programme became exigent given that the world is going digital, and BDCs under his leadership must stay ahead of the pack, deploying time-tested technology to deliver seamless services to their numerous customers.

According to him, the sensitisation programme was held in the six geopolitical zones, namely Kano, Lagos, Awka and Abuja, among others. The programme, he added, was attended by over 3,500 registered operators across the country.

“The ABCON/NIBSS Sensitisation Programme on BVN Validation Portal has been on in the last two months. We are happy that all our six geopolitical zones have been covered. It is our own input to the CBN’s policy implementation and an opportunity to take confidence-building in BDCs’ operations to the next level,” he said.

Gwadabe added that BDCs were ready and committed to abiding by CBN’s regulations on the forex market. “The CBN directed BDCs to validate the authenticity of BVN that clients wanting to buy forex submit to them. Already, the BVN is becoming very important to government; hence, we are thinking ahead and equipping our members with the right skills and technology. We are committed to ensuring that our members do not fall short of regulatory requirements,” he said.

He said the BDCs have supported the CBN to achieve exchange rate stability as seen in the naira exchanging at N361/$1 at the weekend, from over N520/$1 last February.

Gwadabe appealed to the CBN to help BDCs reduce rising bank charges associated with their transactions. “BDCs are charged N1,000 per N1 million transaction and with each operator paying as much as N67,000 for the N67 million monthly transactions. These charges are too high, and I urge the CBN to help reduce the charges which are becoming huge burden on BDC operators,” he said.