The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) President, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, has called for the establishment of training institutes to enhance capacity and infrastructure in the industry and broaden players’ business scope with cash-back incentives for those that patronise Bureaux De Change (BDC).
The ABCON boss made the call at the end of its National Executive Council meeting held in Lagos.
Mr Gwadabe said, “The BDCs should be able to operate a network of digital solutions for Personal Travel Allowance, PTA, and Business Travel Allowance, BTA.
“This would reduce overheads and improve profitability. Some BDCs might still consider working closer with commercial banks.
“ABCON can also be recognised as a self-regulatory organisation to enable it to operate effectively and sanction erring members.”
Mr Gwadabe further said that ABCON resolved to align with the policy thrust of the apex bank and ensure that its members play their roles professionally and strategically in the interest of the market and economy.
According to him, de-marketing of BDCs by regulators and security agencies is not suitable for the market’s stability; instead, the strength of over 4,500 operators can be harnessed to bring forex closer to the retail end-users and strengthen liquidity in the market.
He said that ABCON had developed multiple applications for BDCs’ transformation from being CBN cash dispensers to globally competitive entities with the capacity to attract foreign capital flows to the economy.
“We support any measures that would comply with the Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT).
“We support CBN’s exchange rate stability policies and urge security agencies to punish any BDC operator breaching corporate governance and compliance guidelines.
“We sincerely believe that BDCs need to be integrated back officially to ensure their continuous potent role in exchange rate stability management,” Gwadabe said.
The ABCON boss said that the recognition of the role of BDCs in Nigeria’s financial sector remains the first step to building a sustainable and viable forex market that is in tandem with international best practices.
Gwadabe said that the Naira exchanged for N596 to a dollar at the parallel market while it exchanged at N415.83 to a dollar at the official market, creating a rate gap of N180.17 to a dollar.