as naira falls at interbank
There has been low response to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) directive on Bank Verification Number (BVN) for foreign exchange (FX) transactions by Bureau de Change (BDC) operators after November 1, BusinessDay investigation has revealed.
The CBN had last month in a circular to all banks and licensed BDCs, said with effect from November 1, 2015, that all customers desiring to purchase FX through all available channels in Nigeria must provide their BVN, which shall be validated by the CBN authorised FX dealer through the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) platform before transactions were consummated.
Meanwhile, the BDC operators have accepted to comply with the directive after much agitation over the timing of the directive. BusinessDay learns that customers of BDCs are not willing to disclose their date of birth for validation of their BVN.
“We want to get compliance from public who are willing to give their BVN and date of birth. But the response we have been getting since Monday has not been encouraging,” Aminu Gwadabe, acting president, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), told BusinessDay on phone.
Gwadabe is willing to report back to the CBN on the response so far after one week of trial, calling on the apex to embark on massive awareness in this regard.
Meanwhile, the naira on Wednesday fell in value against the dollar by N0.99k or 0.50 percent at the interbank FX market.
After trading on Wednesday, the local currency closed at N199.19k compared with N198.20k the previous day at the interbank market.
At the BDC segment of the forex market and parallel market, naira closed stable at N225/$ and N226/$, respectively.
Meanwhile, Nigeria plans to raise N50 billion ($250m) worth of local currency denominated bonds maturing in February 2020 and March 2024 on November 11, the Debt Management Office said on Wednesday.
The debt office said it would issue N30 billion worth in the 2020 paper and N20 billion worth in the 2024 debt, using the Dutch Auction System.
All the debt is a reopening of previously issued paper, while results of the auction will be released the following day, reports Reuters.
