CBN bans street trading for Bureau de change operators

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has banned street trading by Bureau De Change (BDC) operators, emphasizing the need for proper regulation to support the naira.

“Street trading of foreign currencies is not allowed,” stated Blaise Ijebor, CBN’s director for risk management. “We don’t want BDCs operating under trees. They should have offices where customers can walk in, exchange currency, and leave,” he said at a conference in Lagos on Thursday.

The CBN has recently revised the minimum capital requirements for BDC operators, setting it at N2 billion for Tier 1 and N500 million for Tier 2. Ijebor explained that this increase is intended to ensure BDCs have sufficient funds to invest in necessary infrastructure and comply with regulations.

Despite a 35.72 per cent rise in dollar supply at the official market, the naira weakened across foreign exchange markets on Thursday. The naira fell by 1.55 per cent, with the dollar quoted at N1,485.66, down from N1,462.59 on Wednesday at the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEM), according to a market summary by FMDQ Securities Exchange Limited.

In the parallel market, the naira depreciated further against the US dollar on Friday, losing N15 to close at N1,515.

“One of our goals is to refocus BDCs on their original mission: providing market structure for small transactions without requiring people to go to banks,” said Blaise Ijebor.

He emphasized the need for regulated entities to be strong enough to handle these transactions.

“We need BDCs to form associations so that regulation isn’t overly burdensome. This allows them to better receive and comply with regulations, benefiting everyone,” he added. “This is why we’re increasing the capital requirements, ensuring they have enough funds to invest in the necessary infrastructure to offer these services and fully adhere to regulations,” Blaise said.

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