The Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to increase the minimum capital requirement of a foreign exchange trading firm from the current N35 million to N350 million ($454,888) in order to boost the operational capacity.
Also, the association recommended to its members to merger in order to improve their capacity to handle diaspora remittances or any other funds from abroad and channel the FX to shops and small businesses.
The ABCON President, Aminu Gwadebe, who confirmed the latest requests of the association to the monetary authorities, pointed out that the request was part of the current initiatives being undertaken by the leadership of the group to build up capacities of their members and possibly prune down the number of operators.
Gwadabe recalled that this was the approach used for deposit money banks (DMBs) during the 2004 consolidation exercise, adding that adopting the mechanism will also help in strengthening some of the BDCs to add value to the financial system.
The ABCON President explained: “We asked for a merger, consolidation, like 10 BDCs coming together to fund the N350 million proposed minimum capital requirement to reduce the number of BDCs.
“It is better because we are doing nothing just because they said we are too many, so is it not better to merge and we are doing business, so that we can form capacity”, he added.
