As the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) is making plans for the recapitalisation of the Bureau De Change industry (BDC), appeals have started pouring from operators to CBN.

They say what they want is not what the CBN is set embark on.

In what looks like a plea to the apex bank in Nigeria, the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) is seeking the merger of several Bureau De Change (BDC) operators.

The national president of ABCON, Dr. Aminu Gwadabe, gave the recommendation on Thursday.

He says they are not interested in industry recapitalisation.

According to Gwadabe, the group never asked for upward review of mandatory regulatory capital base for each BDC.

Presently, each BDC must show it has as capital base of ₦35 million.

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Merge BDCs, Don’t Recapitulate Industry

However, he suggested that a merger of at least 10 BDCs to form new capital of ₦350 million would go a long way in helping the businesses stabilise.

According to ABCON, each of the CBN-licenced BDCs is capitalised to the tune of ₦35 million.

Also, he recommends that they should be allowed to willingly consolidate among themselves.

The recommendation is to effectively help BDCs’ corporate governance and rules of engagements with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Furthermore, the ABCON chairman said the merger option was adopted for class ‘A’ BDCs in 2007/2008.

This option entitles them to $1 million weekly allocation with ₦500 million capital base.

Now, the group wants a similar business model through mergers and consolidation.

It does not believe that an outright review of capital base of each operator will be effective.

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It said the CBN should regulate merged BDCs from the consolidation exercise.

The move, he said, would enhance the scope of operation and diversification of sources through various window and reduce regulatory pressures.