X-raying the role of BDC sub-sector in economic development
Bureau de change (BDC) industry remains a critical sector in economic development and wealth creation. A partnership between BDC operators and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is needed to achieve exchange rate stability and will enable the sector contribute its quota to the national Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Achieving these would require implementing policies that support their operations and a partnership with fiscal and monetary authorities to channel over $27.8 billion foreign reserves to domestic trade, writes Hope Moses-Ashike.
The state of the economy of every nation is a function of contribution from different segments and industries to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) pool. Globally, bureaux de change (BDC) operators have remained critical agent of development and economic growth transformation for countries. For Nigeria, BDCs are not just a critical factor in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN’s) plan to achieve price and exchange stability but have remained one of the major contributors to government’s revenues.
With over N250 billion worth of investments in the economy, the BDC sector not only enhances employment generation, but also remains one of the major employers of labour. The sector has also contributed to the CBN’s revenues streams through one per cent commission charged on dollar sale to operators.
The over 3,000 BDC operators in the country have especially since the CBN started direct sale of dollars to the industry in 2006, helped in the implementation of the historic convergence of exchange rates for the first time on July 6 2006, which have so far led to increased investment spending in the economy. This explains stakeholders’ worries when regulatory and government policies in recent months did not favour the continued operation and sustainability of BDCs’ businesses in the country.
CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, had last January announced a new foreign exchange (forex) policy, which includes the stoppage of weekly dollar sales to BDCs. “The bank (CBN) would henceforth discontinue its sales of foreign exchange to BDCs. Operators in this segment of the market would now need to source their foreign exchange from autonomous source.
They must however note that the CBN would deploy more resources to monitoring these sources to ensure that no operator is in violation of our anti-money laundering laws,” Emefiele said, at news conference on the review of the contentious forex policy at CBN’s Abuja head office.
But the President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) Aminu Gwadabe, explained that as law abiding citizens and partner in progress with the CBN, the BDC operators respect the decision of the apex bank as the regulator of the banking industry and foreign exchange market, where they operate. “While we are not totally surprised by the decision, we however believe there are better ways of addressing the challenges in the foreign exchange market,” he said.
He regretted that the BDCs are always blamed, whenever there is naira volatility. “Suffice to mention that before the CBN started selling dollars to BDCs in 2006, there were about 270 BDCs in the country. Despite the harsh operating environment, these operators were able to survive by servicing their clients,” he said.
According to him, the BDC industry was created by the CBN to fill a critical gap in the retail segment of the foreign exchange market, even as the decision to sell dollars to them was because they have the capacity to counter the effect of the illegal currency traffickers and the continued depreciation of the naira in the parallel market.
While the BDCs, which remain a globally acknowledged and reputable business have put the sudden stoppage of dollar sales to them by the CBN behind them, ABCON and its leadership has continued to seek plausible avenues to deepen dollar liquidity in the market, sustain their members businesses and make their contributions to Nigeria’s economic growth and development.
For Gwadabe, Nigeria BDCs can be strengthened to operate across the value chain of the retail foreign exchange sector; remittances and payments space as well as local and international travel insurance brokerage deals. This, he said, can help turn the sub-sector into a booming industry that can employ more millions of Nigerians. Both the CBN and BDCs, he said, can work also together and find sustainable solutions that can help the country wriggle out of the ongoing forex crisis confronting the economy.
“The BDCs do not depend on exchange rate to make profit and therefore will benefit nothing from a depreciated naira. Depreciation affects operators’ working capital as they are more interested in turnover than the exchange rate. The BDCs do not also determine exchange rate and the ABCON has continually worked closely with the CBN to ensure that dollar supply increases, so as to restore calm in the currency market,” he assured.
Diaspora remittances
The BDCs can also explore opportunities in Diaspora remittances. For instance, the World Bank Migration and Remittances Fact book 2016 showed that Nigerians living abroad sent home $20.8 billion in 2015. The figure, it said, is by far the largest volume of remittances to any country in Africa and the sixth largest in the world.
“The United States is the biggest remittance sending country to Nigeria, followed by the United Kingdom. Nigerians will receive $5.7 billion in remittances sent from friends and family members in the US and $3.7 billion from the UK in 2015. Nigeria is also the third largest destination country for migrants from other African nations,” it said.
It says a quarter of a billion people around the world are migrants, and over $600 billion in remittances are sent annually.
The global lender says international remittances to developing countries, reached over $441 billion in 2015, more than foreign direct investment and trice more than official aid flows. It says 34 per cent of all international remittances are sent between developing countries.
It disclosed that remittances constitute more than 10 per cent of Gross Domestic Product for 25 countries and insists that international remittances have been growing steadily, and remain stable even during episodes of financial volatility.
“In 2015, the number of international migrants surpassed 250 million, a quarter of a billion people, globally. International migrants now represent more than 3.4 per cent of the world’s population. South-South migration is now larger than South-North migration. Over 38 per cent of international migrants have migrated from developing countries to other developing countries. 14.4 per cent of international migrants are refugees,” it said.
Gwadabe said a proposal from ABCON to the CBN, asking the regulator to allow BDC operators operate correspondent bank accounts that would allow currency auctioneers receive the average $20.8 billion annual Diaspora remittances. Making BDCs major agents money transfer agents like the Western Union, MoneyGram, among others will enable them achieve the objective.
The proposal, which Gwadabe says is still being assessed by the CBN, will enable operators open forex account with Bank Of America or Barclays Bank or any other international bank, through which Nigerians living abroad can send funds home through the foreign bank accounts run by BDCs while the recipients claim their money at home. This practice, when approved, Gwadabe said, would not only boost dollar liquidity in the market, but also help the country navigate through raging currency risks.
He believes that integrating BDCs into the money transfer business will ease the challenges faced in the industry and deepen Nigeria payment system.
The CBN under Emefiele had earlier entered an agreement with BDC operators on ways to bridge dollar liquidity crisis in the sector. Gwadabe said the regulator has agreed to source petrodollars from international oil companies (IOCs) and other autonomous sources. The decision was meant to find ways out of the dollar crisis in the sector, promising to directly intervene in selling dollars to the BDCs, when market liquidity improves.
Gwadabe said: “The CBN agreed to be sourcing for dollar from IOCs and selling to the BDCs between 198 and 201 to a dollar. We have also accepted to ensure that our members follow the regulatory guidelines and not sell dollars obtained through the autonomous sources over the required margin”.
He explained that the BDCs do not have the capacity to deal directly with the IOCs because of the intricate nature of the transactions, but will rely on the CBN’s expertise and experience to handle the transactions.
The reserves currently stand at $27.8 billion and Gwadabe believes that the fund should also be used for domestic trade where the BDCs will be involved. The practice, he said, will help deepen the market.
Brighter future awaits BDCs
But for the BDCs to play these roles in the economy, Gwadabe said the CBN must tackle the increasing challenges arising from over regulation and complex documentation requirements that licensed BDC operators are facing in carrying out their daily legitimate operation.
These, he said, have had negative impact on their efforts toward compliance to statutory and regulatory requirements. The ABCON chief said that six units within the CBN are involved with BDC regulations, supervision, licensing, monitoring, saying this constitutes multiple regulation of a unit of the financial sub-sector that is only involved as a small market player.
“A BDC operator is expected to render daily, monthly, quarterly, half yearly and annual returns to these various departments of the same corporate body, which could be very cumbersome, repetitive and time consuming for both the operator and the regulator,” he said in a statement.
“In addition to the above, the BDC is also under obligation to render same returns to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission /Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit, while at the same time reporting to other statutory government establishments, including the Federal Inland Revenue Service and Corporate Affairs Commission respectively”.
Gwadabe said naira devaluation is not the solution to Nigeria’s problems, while asking government to pay more attention to economy diversification. He believes the strengthening of the BDCs will also be in line with the government’s diversification agenda because the benefits that a strong BDC industry will bring to the economy.
The ABCON under Gwadabe’s leadership is also working on achieving transaction automation for members, create live trading platforms and uniform rate for operators. The operators also want to partner with other relevant agencies, while reviewing and updating its operational manual.
The ABCON, he said, has a zero tolerance for non-compliance with regulatory requirement and for unethical conduct amongst its members. “It is for this purpose that the association created the office of Compliance Officer in its National Secretariat and in all its zonal offices and also provided official vehicles for the compliance officers to regularly pay inspection visits to BDCs under their jurisdictions,” he said.
Hope Moses-Ashike