Bureaux De Change (BDC) directors have reiterated their commitment to ensuring stable exchange rate in the country.
This was part of resolutions made at the end of an exclusive meeting of BDC Directors organised by the Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) in Lagos.
ABCON President, Aminu Gwadabe charged the BDC directors to protect the huge money invested in their BDCs by ensuring their staff operate within the approved guidelines of the CBN.
He said this has become imperative to protect the BDC business, especially the weekly dollar sale by the CBN.
Noting that total investment in each BDC is about N35 million, he called for increased supervision by directors, to detect and forestall any activity that could lead to the loss of such investment.
Listing the expected roles of BDC directors, Chairman South West Zone, ABCON, Taiwo Ebenezer, said that directors should be involved in the day-to-day activities of their BDCs and relate regularly with their staff.
Among other things, he added that BDC directors must know the sources of funds paid into their corporate accounts, while also ensuring weekly operational reports from their staff.
On his part, ABCON National Treasurer, Gbadamosi Mohammed, said it is the duty of directors to educate their members on the ethics of the business as indicated in the CBN guidelines.
He added that the ongoing nationwide ABCON training was informed by the need to ensure that all BDC staff are adequately educated, and the directors should ensure application of lessons from the training by their staff in the day-to-day running of their BDCs.
Also speaking, ABCON Vice President, Azubuike Igbokwe listed unauthorised transactions for BDCs to include, funds transfer, donations to political parties, funding of importation and funding of terrorism activities.
Noting that the penalty for these unauthorised transactions include N5 million fine, exclusion from forex bidding or revocation of operating licence, he charged the directors to always validate the Bank Verification Number (BVN) of their customers so as to ensure their identity and activities as a way of ensuring their BDCs are not unconsciously or indirectly used for any of the unauthorised transactions.
The directors also expressed support for the proposed ABCON Task Force Committee for the purposes of monitoring compliance by operators.
While observing that the guidelines for BDC operations require that all licensed BDCs operate inside their registered offices, the directors charged ABCON to punish any operator that contravenes the guidelines of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the sub-sector.
Furthermore, the directors committed to increased supervision of BDCs’ operations while ensuring adequate remuneration for staff and prompt rendition of returns to the regulatory authorities.
