James Emejo in Abuja
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Thursday said it will commence the immediate refund of capital deposits and licensing fees, where applicable, to Bureau De Change (BDC) promoters who have pending license applications with the bank.
The CBN’s move is sequel to Tuesday’s Monetary Policy Committee(MPC) briefing where the apex bank’s Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele announced a ban on sale of foreign exchange to BDC operators forthwith.
He had also declared a stoppage to all pending applications for new licences to operate a BDC.
However, the CBN, in a circular to BDC promoters and all banks, dated July 29,2012, and signed by the CBN Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department, Mr. Ibrahim Tukur, advised the affected promoters to forward their requests for refund in writing to the director, financial policy and regulation department.
In a separate circular, the CBN also directed all banks to set up teller points at designated branches across the country to fulfil legitimate FX requests for Personal Travel Allowance (PTA), Business Travel Allowance (BTA), tuition fees, medical payments, SMEs transactions among others.
The bank however, added that the requests for refund should be accompanied with telax copy of initial deposit of N35 million and account details of the refund, which should be the same as the account from which the capital deposited originated including bank name and account name and number as well as copy of the bank draft/telex for payment of licensing fee of N1 million if any.
In addition, the CBN further directed all deposit money banks to henceforth stop accepting instructions from customers to transfer capital deposits of N35 million to the designated CBN account for the purpose of applying for BDC licenses.
In the CBN letter to all banks signed by the Director, Banking Supervision Department, Mr. Haruna Mustafa, the apex bank explained that the directive was part of the fallouts of the MPC meeting which had also authorised the commercial banks to begin accepting cash deposits of foreign exchange from their customers.
The circular directed the banks to adequately publicise the locations of designated branches and make necessary arrangements to sell FX to customers in cash and/or electronically in compliance with extant regulations.
Also, the CBN strongly advised banks to ensure that no customer is turned back or refused FX provided that documentation and all other requirements are satisfied.
The apex bank further warned against undue delays, rationing and diversion of FX as well as directed them to establish electronic application and alert systems to update customers on status of their FX requests.
The CBN further reminded banks that a toll-free line had been set up at the apex bank to enable bank customers to escalate unresolved complaints related to their FX requests.
The statement added that the CBN will continue to closely monitor banks’ conduct and compliance with the directive in order to ensure an efficient FX market for all legitimate users adding that any breach of the directive will be severely sanctioned.
