BY Wasilat Azeez
The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)) to use its members as a tool in ending multiple exchange rates and ushering stability in the foreign exchange (FX) market.
Aminu Gwadabe, ABCON president, said this in a statement in Lagos.
He said the CBN operational manual authorises Bureaux De Change operators (BDCs) to carry on the business of selling personal travel allowance (PTA), business travel allowance (BTA), school fees and medical bills payment abroad, among other roles, at the retail end of the FX market.
Gwadabe called for collaboration between the BDCs and the CBN in the implementation of market-friendly policies that will make the BDCs impact more positively in the market and promote exchange rate stability in the economy.
“The hasty generalisation that criminalises the BDC sub-sector as responsible for all market crisis and infractions like selling dollars with higher premium above regulatory limit, promoting the loss of confidence in the near, and multiplicity of the exchange rates, is not in the best interest of the market and economy,” he said.
“It is in view of this disturbing situation and the need to strengthen BDCs value chain as obtainable in organised climes that we urge the regulators and policymakers to consider BDCs as the most potent tool in liberalising the foreign exchange market and stopping multiple exchange rates in the system.”
Gwadabe said the BDCs had since 2006 provided policymakers with a window in achieving their mandate of exchange rate stability and price equilibrium.
He, therefore, called for the reintegration of the BDCs into the forex market ecosystem to sustain their roles in the economy.
On the readiness of BDCs for the responsibility, Gwadabe said the operators have integrated technology into their operations and promoted efficiency and transparency in their businesses.
According to him, ABCON trains compliance officers to ensure they are acquainted with what is required of them, especially on monthly rendition of results and tracking illicit capital flows to the market through compliance initiatives.
He added that BDCs would continue to comply with the rendition of suspicious transactions reports as directed by the CBN, and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) through training its directors and sanctioning of erring operators.
Almost a year ago, the apex bank discontinued the sale of FX to BDC operators, accusing them of being involved in illegal financial flows and money laundering in Nigeria.
Since then, ABCON has continued to make repeated calls for the restoration of the forex sale.
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