The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) says it will launch an “Operation No Street Trading” to stop street hawking of foreign currencies.
Aminu Gwadabe, ABCON president, said this was one of the resolutions unanimously reached by BDCs directors at the meeting of operators on Tuesday in Lagos.
Gwadabe also said all market participants would work together to lower the foreign currency rate.
He warned that non-compliance will not be condoned and errant members will be sanctioned.
“All operators to collaborate in bringing down the forex rates in the market; street trading by BDC should be discouraged/banned and ABCON will commence operation ‘no street trading,” Gwadabe said.
“BDCs should improve return rendition to regulatory authorities; margin review to meet operational requirements; widening the scope of transactions; digitalisation of BDC operations.
“ABCON to punish errand members; ABCON compliance officer and staff to commence nationwide supervision of BDC operations.”
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ABCON had urged foreign exchange users and the general public on May 31 to patronise only BDC operators licensed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to get dollars at the approved rate.
Gwadabe had said forex speculators were capitalising on the state of the forex market and the naira to sell dollars above the CBN-approved margin.
He added the CBN-licenced BDCs were not selling dollars to end-users above the N2 per dollar margin set by the regulator to protect the naira against forex speculators and ensure exchange rate stability.
Meanwhile, the naira appreciated against the US dollar at the investors and exporters (I&E) window on Wednesday to close at N411.06/$1; while the naira went for N498/$1 at the parallel market.
– The Cable