Commercial banks are defying Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) directive for them to sell $50,000 weekly from Diaspora remittances to bureau de change (BDCs), President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) Aminu Gwadabe said yesterday.
In a statement, the ABCON boss said only 10 per cent of BDCs from the Lagos market have so far accessed dollar from banks since the CBN gave the directive nearly three weeks ago. The banks that are so far involved in the dollar sales include FirstBank, Ecobank Nigeria, Fidelity Bank, United Bank for Africa and Unity Bank. Others are Diamond Bank, Zenith Bank and Stanbic IBTC Bank.
Gwadabe regretted that BDCs in Port Harcourt, Kano, Abuja, Onitsha, Maiduguri, Benin and Enugu are yet to get a single dollar from these banks.
He said that the BDCs are also selling between N345 and N355 to dollar, far above the interbank rate of N305 to dollar exchange yesterday. The banks, he added, are supposed to sell to the BDCs on the same day within the week, but have failed to do so. “Instead of staggering the payment, the banks should sell to the BDCs on the same week day, so that the impact will be felt in the market. We also want the CBN to licence more International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs) to deepen the market,” he said.
“Our members across the country have funded their accounts since two weeks ago but the banks are not selling to them. The BDCs that met the CBN’s policy guidelines on the disbursement and cleared by the banks have still not received a dime from the banks,” he added.
Gwadabe also called on the CBN to outsource the dollar distribution role to independent distributor since the banks have failed in their assigned role.
“I think the banks are compromising the policy and CBN’s directive on the matter. And like I said earlier, since the banks are not co-operating, I expect the CBN to take that role from them and assign it to a reputable independent distributor,” he advised.
The CBN had directed through a circular to authorised dealers that all agents to approved IMTOs sell foreign currency accruing from inward money remittances to licensed BDCs.
It said the foreign currency proceeds of IMTOs sold to BDC operators shall be retailed to end users in accordance to CBN regulation. Also, only BDCs that have been cleared by the compliance department of the banks as fully compliant with the Know Your Customer (KYC) requirement were allowed to buy. The CBN issued a follow-up circular to all the banks, asking them to sell $50,000 weekly to BDCs.
The directive was meant to ensure stability of the exchange rate and encourage participation of critical stakeholders in the foreign exchange market.
The CBN said a BDC shall nominate its preferred authorised dealer, a commercial bank, and can only procure the said amount from only that bank of its choice in a week. The CBN warned that any breach of this condition will attract appropriate sanction.
Speaking further on the Diaspora remittances, Gwadabe said: “The proceed of the international money transfer fund, is not CBN money. It is not from the foreign reserves of the CBN. This is money that Nigerians in Diaspora, are sending into the economy. Before, this money come through unofficial means, some sending through hands, and at the end of the day, the beneficiary will not even get the money”.