Foreign Exchange traders in Nigeria have accused the Central Bank of Nigeria of ignoring their inputs before releasing the final ‘Regulatory and Supervisory Guidelines For Bureau de Change Operations’ in the country.
The national executives of the Association of Bureau de Change Operators of Nigeria revealed this in a circular sent to its members shortly after the central bank announced the withdrawal of all approved licenses for forex trading.
The circular was titled, ‘New CBN Operational Guidelines For BDCs In Nigeria.’
The document obtained by NewsNGR said that ABCON during its inputs had suggested a minimum capital of N500m for Tier 1 BDC, N100m for Tier 2 BDC, and N35m for Tier 3 BDC.
But in the final guideline, the apex bank insisted on N2bn minimum capital for Tier 1 and N500m minimum capital for Tier 2 BDCs.
“With heavy heart, we write to inform our members as follows: 1. The new guidelines are confirmed and authentic. 2. The financial requirements in their draft guidelines of N2bn and N500m for Tier 1 and Tier 2 remained unchanged,” the Association’s Executives wrote to their members.
ABCON added, “The ABCON inputs of N500m for Tier 1 and N100m for Tier 2 and N35m for Tier 3 was not considered.
“ABCON to call for an emergency General meeting in Abuja to issue a communique date to be announced soon. We regret any inconvenience and call for your support and calmness.”
ABCON told its members that the non-refundable license fee and application fee are not in billion but in million and thousands.
The association told members that the CBN made a provision for mergers and acquisitions amongst willing applicants.