The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed that each licensed Bureau de Change (BDC) operator can access up to $150,000 in foreign exchange weekly from the Nigerian Foreign Exchange Market (NFEM) through authorised dealer banks.
The directive was issued on Tuesday in a circular signed by the CBN’s Director of Trade and Exchange Department, Musa Narkoji, and addressed to all authorised dealer banks and the general public.
Under the new guideline, all duly licensed BDCs are permitted to purchase foreign exchange from the NFEM through any authorised dealer of their choice at the prevailing market rate.
The CBN said the measure is designed to improve liquidity in the retail segment of the foreign exchange market and meet the legitimate needs of end-users.
“Authorised Dealers are required to complete the necessary KYC and due diligence for their BDC clients in line with applicable regulations and the internal risk management framework.
“Upon completion of these requirements, foreign exchange may be sold to BDCs for utilisation in line with the existing BDC Guidelines, subject to a maximum of USD150,000 per week for each BDC,” it stated.
The apex bank also mandated licensed BDCs to submit timely and accurate electronic returns to the CBN in line with existing regulations.
“Any unutilised balances are expected to be sold back to the market within 24 hours (BDCS are not permitted to keep funds purchased from NFEM in their positions),” CBN said.
READ ALSO:
- SEC Urges Civil Servants to Build Wealth via Capital Market
- CBN Doubles Down on Inflation Targeting, Warns of Liquidity Risks
- NRS Rakes in ₦28.3trn Revenue in 2025, Eyes ₦40.7trn for 2026
- 14 Years After: 40m Nigerian Adults Remain Outside CBN’s Financial Inclusion
In addition, the CBN reiterated that all foreign exchange transactions involving BDCs, authorised dealers and end-users must be settled through accounts held with licensed financial institutions.
The regulator prohibited third-party transactions and stipulated that cash settlements for foreign exchange sales must not exceed 25 per cent of each transaction amount.
All transactions under the arrangement, it added, remain subject to existing BDC operational guidelines.
Pinnacle Daily reports that the directive follows the recent conclusion of the CBN’s recapitalisation exercise for BDC operators, which raised the minimum capital requirement to ₦2 billion for Tier 1 BDCs and ₦500 million for Tier 2 operators.
As a result of the new capital thresholds, 1,435 BDC operators lost their licences for failing to meet the requirements.
This development comes after a sweeping regulatory overhaul in March 2024, when the CBN revoked the licences of 4,173 operators out of 5,687 over repeated regulatory breaches, reducing the number of active BDCs to about 1,517.
By November 27, 2025, only 82 operators had been granted final licences under the stricter regulatory framework aimed at sanitising the market.
Alex is a business journalist cum data enthusiast with the Pinnacle Daily. He can be reached via ealex@thepinnacleng.com, @ehime_alex on X
