The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has written to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) requesting that it grant the operators of foreign exchange retailing outfitsr digital autonomy to achieve exchange rate convergence.
In a memo to the regulatory bank signed by the association president, Aminu Gwadabe, and acknowledged by the CBN, ABCON is seeking approval for the BDCs to fully go digital on all their operational correspondences.
He said the approval would enhance exchange rate convergence, curb volatility in the market, and promote economic growth.
According to him, ABCON had in the past led its members to achieve rate convergence in 2006, 2009, 2018, and 2020 before the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020.
He said granting digital autonomy to the operators will lead to true market rate discovery, enhance the achievement of the Federal Government’s harmonized foreign exchange rate policies, and promote effective monitoring of BDC transactions for statutory and regulatory requirements.
“As a proactive organization and an umbrella body of Central Bank licensed BDCs, and in line with the CBN’s planned reforms on BDCs for tech compliance, ABCON has started various digitization reforms since 2016 to date for licensed operators.
READ ALSO:Â Brent crude stays above $90/barrel as investors anticipate US macroeconomic data for direction
“ABCON has invested several millions of naira in IT research, developments, designs, and implementations of various layers of automation on business transformation from manual to digital. Our members now have transaction monitoring systems with installed IT office equipment and internet connections.
“Our members now record their transactions on Amazon Web Service (AWS) online in real time and extract their daily reports for return rendition. Operators have also integrated with NIBSS, bank verification number verification, and validation platforms.”
In a personal note to Global Financial Digest, Gwadabe said the autonomy being sought by operators in the foreign exchange market is to ensure true market rate discovery.
“Secondly, it will enhance the achievement of the federal government’s harmonized foreign exchange rate policies.
“Thirdly, it will make the BDC’s transaction monitoring system effective and conform to their compliance obligations with statutory and regulatory requirements.
“Fifth, it will harmonize and centralize the market, thus making the BDCs the moderating and correcting mechanism for the market.
“In the same vein, it will create additional employment for the over 40,000 direct and indirect employees in the BDCs subsector and usher in transparency, accountability, and ease of supervision,” Gwadabe said in the note.
(Edited by Oludare Mayowa; omayowa@globalfinancialdigest.com; Newsroom: +234 8033 964 138)
