The Bureau De Change (BDC) operators under the umbrella of the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) have called on the Central Bank to increase their capital requirement by 900 percent.

This means that the minimum capital requirements of BDCs will now be N350 million compared to N35 million.

The Association is also asking for merger, acquisition and consolidation to reduce the number of BDCs, as reported by Nairametrics. An effort to get the Association to confirm this was unsuccessful as Aminu Gwadabe, national president of ABCON could not respond to his call and message.

The policy advisory council of President Bola Tinubu had asked the Federal Government to increase the capital requirements of BDCs operators that seek to participate in Nigeria’s foreign exchange (FX) market.

The council said only BDCs with a strong capitalisation should be allowed to participate in the country’s FX market.

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‘’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,’’ Gwadabe said.

The CBN in July 2023 updated the number of BDCs operating in the country, confirming 5,687 operating licenses. This was disclosed in a publication titled, ‘Approved BDCs’ on the CBN website.

The number of BDC operators in Nigeria has risen by more than 75-fold in 18 years, from 74 in 2005 to 5,687 in 2023, data from the CBN revealed.

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By Hope Moses-Ashike • September 13, 2023

Hope Moses-Ashike is an Associate Editor, Banking and Finance, with more than a decade of experience reporting on Nigeria’s financial system and broader economy. She closely tracks market movements, monetary policy decisions, company disclosures, regulatory actions, economic indicators, and global developments, and interprets what they mean for businesses, investors, policymakers, and households. Her reporting helps readers understand complex issues such as inflation trends, foreign exchange market dynamics, interest rate decisions, bank performance, and investment risks. She also covers major international events and periodically travels to Washington, D.C., to report on the World Bank/IMF Spring and Annual Meetings. Her dedication to financial journalism has earned her multiple recognitions and invitations to high-level professional development programmes. She is an alumna of the International Visitors Leadership Programme (IVLP) in the United States and holds an Advanced Financial Journalism Certificate from the Press Association Training in London, UK. Her other notable achievements include completing the Lagos Business School CMC Programme, the Bloomberg Media Africa Initiative Programme, and a Master Class in Journalism at Rhodes University in South Africa.

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