The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Monday threatened to sanction Bureau De Change (BDC) operators who fail to submit their audited financial statement.
Section 13 of the revised operational guidelines for the BDCs in Nigeria issued in November 2015 provides that every licensed BDC shall submit its audited financial statement to the director, Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department (OFIDs) of the CBN for approval not later than three months after the end of its financial year.
It also provides that no BDC shall publish its audited financial accounts in a newspaper without the prior approval in writing of the CBN.
However, the CBN observed that many BDCs have not been submitting their annual audited accounts contrary to the regulatory requirement.
“We also observed that in some instance, the accounts were incomplete and inaccurate, and that some of the accounts were not endorsed or stamped by the external auditors, thus casting doubts on their integrity and reliability,” Tokunbo Martins, director, OFIDs said in a letter to BDCs.
She said the audited financial statements to be submitted to the CBN shall be prepared in accordance with the applicable accounting standards.
Consequently, Martins said all BDCs are reminded to strictly comply with the regulatory requirement by submitting complete and accurate annual audited accounts duly stamped by and bearing the professional seal of a qualified audit firm and signed by the directors as required.
“The CBN will in due course advise on the modalities for the electronic submission of the annual audited accounts to ensure efficiency and reduction in the use of paper. In the meantime all BDCs are required to submit hard copy,” Martins said in the letter.
Responding to the development, Aminu Gwadabe, president, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) said it is a statutory requirement that should be complied with, adding that the association has been sensitising its members on the need to comply with the regulatory requirement.
Gwadabe noted that this is not the first time that the CBN is sanctioning the BDCs for non-compliance. He said the association will continue to dialogue with the CBN for more time to comply with and also to collaborate with the CBN on capacity building for members.
He told BusinessDay by phone that over 2,000 BDC operators joined the sub-sector last year and that there is capacity gap among the members as a result. Currently, there are about 5,000 BDCs operating in the country.
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