CBN begins refund of capital deposit, licensing fees to BDCs

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has commenced the refund of minimum capital deposits and licensing fees to Promoters who have pending Bureau De Change (BDC) license applications.

This was disclosed in a circular dated July 28, 2021 and signed by Ibrahim Tukur, for director, financial policy and regulation department.

This followed the decision by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to discontinue dollar sales to the Bureau De Change (BDCs) over trading FX wholesale in contravention of their licences, and Nigeria’s FX regulations.
The CBN advised the affected BDCs Promoters to forward their requests for the refund in writing to the director, financial policy and regulation department, CBN Abuja.

Read also: Naira opens steady after CBN hammer on BDCs

According to the circular, the requests should be accompanied with the following documents: (a) telex copy of the capital deposits of N35 million, (b) account details for the refund, which should be the same as the account from which the capital deposit originated, including the: bank name, account name and account number. (C) copy of the bank draft/telex for payment of licensing fee of N1 million (if any).

They are to submit to the CBN headquarters in Abuja or Lagos annex, a hardcopy of the request clearly marked “Refund of BDC Capital Deposit” in an envelope.
In addition, the CBN directed all deposit money banks to henceforth stop accepting Instructions from customers to transfer capital deposit of N35 million to the designated CBN account for the purpose of applying for BDC licenses.