The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has extended the deadline for Bureau De Change (BDC) operators to meet new capital requirements until December 31, 2025, following low compliance and concerns over widespread industry fallout. BDCs are licensed currency exchange firms that serve as critical intermediaries in Nigeria’s foreign exchange market, especially for retail forex needs such as travel, school fees, and small business transactions. In February 2024, the CBN introduced a new two-tier licensing structure requiring Tier-1 operators to raise ₦2 billion for national operations, and Tier-2 operators to raise ₦500 million for state-level operations.
The extension comes as a relief to the roughly 1,600 registered BDCs, many of which struggled to meet the initial June 3 deadline. According to Aminu Gwadabe, President of the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), only about 10% of operators were ready for compliance, and failure to extend the timeline could have led to mass license revocations and the loss of over three million jobs. This CBN’s move provides BDCs with more time to raise capital, explore mergers, or exit the market in an orderly fashion while also stabilizing Nigeria’s access to retail forex at a time of inflation and naira volatility.
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