The Central Bank of Nigeria has hit at the Bureau De Change (BDC) for illegal forex trading and will henceforth discontinue the sale of forex to the Bureau operators in Nigeria.
The governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele made this known while addressing the press during the MPC briefing on Tuesday, 27th July 2021.
The Central Bank also confirmed that they will no longer license new BDC operations in the country and have also halted all current processes for new licenses.
The Governor, while making these announcements, promised to deal “ruthlessly” with Nigerian banks caught in these illegal acts.
Backstory
It is worth noting that this is not the first time the CBN has placed a ban on the sale of forex to BDCs. In 2016, the Central Bank of Nigeria called a press conference announcing the discontinuation of the sale of forex to Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators.
The decision was made in order to curb the dubious acts of the BDC operators who instead of catering for retail users in need of about $5,000 are involved in transactions to the tune of millions of dollars, indicating that they may be sourcing these dollars from unscrupulous means.