ABCON Mulls Harmonised Retail End FX Market for BDCs to Tackle Volatility

The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has said that it is working on establishing a unified retail end foreign exchange market operations to tackle volatility and boost regulatory compliance within the Bureaux De Change (BDC) sub-sector.

In a statement, ABCON President, Aminu Gwadabe, said ABCON is carrying out strategic plans meant to unify operators from different cadres of the market including inauguration of state chapters for markets coordination, integration and administering a united market structure.

He said that ABCON plans to extend its automation policies and platforms to all BDC operators across Nigeria markets and upgrading its Business Process Platform-(formerly called SAAZ Master).

He said the new blueprint for a united retail end forex market structure will ensure the deployment of a centralized, democratized and liberalized online realtime trading platform.

He stated that the association will sustains its engagement with regulatory agencies, security operatives and other government apparatus to entrench a secured and thriving forex market that is supportive to regulation and government.

Gwadabe said: “Part of our vision for a united retail-end forex market include activating geo mapping and automated BDCs physical office verification exercise using the Remote Gravity Physical verification apps.This will enable forex buyers to easily locate where BDCs offices are for effective and seamless transactions”.

He reiterated the benefits of a realistic and vibrant retail end forex market as supporting Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) goal of achieving true price discovery for the naira, balancing of international obligations and national objectives; ensuring ease of regulation, security agencies monitoring and supervision as well as entrenching market visibility for BDC players.

According to Gwadabe, the vision for a united retail end forex market will help in the provision of market intelligence reports, enhance the local and global image of the BDCs and other stakeholders, market operators and boost employment generation.

The successful execution of this plan, Gwadabe said, will help in seamlessly capturing revenues for government through digitized retail end market and creating a well structured, transparent and competitive platform to checkmate the menace of unlicensed platforms like Binance, Aboki FX, ByBit among others.

He disclosed that ABCON is a self-regulatory body, an umbrella body for all the Central Bank of Nigeria -CBN-licensed BDCs.

It is a national body, acknowledged by Federal Government and believes that money laundering through the BDCs or any other financial Institution is unacceptable and those found wanting should be punished based on the law.