₦airaland Forum

The Bureau De Change (BDC) operators have lamented that they are close to going out of operations as most of its members are struggling to stay afloat and meet up with overhead expenses.

These licensed currency traders have attributed this mainly to the suspension of dollar allocation by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to the BDCs, as they struggle to have access to foreign exchange from the official window.

The operators lamented that with the huge drop in income level, paying staff salaries, office rent, licenses and other compliance expenses has become a major challenge.

This is further compounded by the uncertainty in the retail sub-sector of the forex market, with many of the BDC operators still battling to meet up with the recapitalization and license processes.

The CBN has since stopped the sales of forex to the licensed currency traders with little or no intervention till date. The BDC operators, who said that the CBN could not sustain the exercise, however, noted that they are `engaged in positive discussion with the apex bank for the return of their active participation in the BDCs in the retail end of the forex market.

Customers now prefer to use IMTOs
In an exclusive chat with Nairametrics, a BDC operator, Abubakar Ardo, said that most of them are barely managing to stay in business, as the non-sale of forex directly to the BDCs has affected their operations badly.

Apart from the challenge of getting forex from the official window, Ardo explained that the demand for forex has dropped sharply as most customers now prefer to do transfers or use online platforms or International Money Transfer Operator (IMTOs) instead of physical cash exchanges.

He said, ‘’Honestly, things have been extremely tough for us lately. Most operators are just managing to stay afloat. Since the CBN stopped selling forex directly to us, our operations have been badly affected. We used to depend largely on the official window to get foreign exchange at regulated rates, but that avenue has been shut for a long time.

‘’Right now, survival depends mostly on what we can get from walk-in customers — people coming in to sell small amounts of dollars, pounds, or euros. But that’s not structured or steady. Sometimes, you can go days without a single serious transaction. The market is very dislocated, and demand has dropped sharply because most people now prefer to do transfers or use online platforms or IMTOs instead of physical cash exchanges.

‘’This may be good for the Naira, but sincerely, many of us are suffering. That’s why we’re proposing we get fully integrated.

‘’Meeting up with overhead costs has become a major challenge. Office rent, staff salaries, licenses, and other compliance expenses are still there, but the income isn’t coming in as before. As I talk with you, many operators have either closed shop temporarily or reduced their workforce just to cut costs.’’

He insisted that they are basically operating in survival mode — trying to keep their licenses active and hoping that the CBN will eventually re-integrate BDCs into the official market.

Going extinct
Making his own contribution, the President of the Association of Bureau Dec Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Aminu Gwadebe, pointed out that the majority of its members are struggling to meet up with their overhead expenses, with their operations almost going extinct.

He said, ‘’The market is stable. As patriotic citizens, we align with policies that strengthen our sovereignty, which is the naira and commend both the regulatory and fiscal authorities on the naira stability and elimination of the exchange rate spikes.

‘’Our operations are currently near extinction, with the majority of our members struggling to meet up with overhead expenses. There is an ongoing positive collaboration between the CBN and the operators on the return of active participation of the BDCs in the retail end of the FX market.

‘’The BDCs, over time, remained the most potent tool of the CBN’s foreign exchange policy transmission mechanism. The majority of us are comatose as survival is largely dependent on the official foreign exchange market, which is not accessible to the BDCs, with only very few grappling with dislocated and unstructured walk-in customers.’’

Gwadebe noted that the CBN discontinued the sales of forex to BDCs a long time ago, with little or no intervention to date.

Source: https://nairametrics.com/2025/10/27/forex-traders-struggle-to-survive-as-cbn-cuts-bdcs-off-from-dollar-supply/

This may be one of the reasons they are angry with Tinubu

Tinubu and 2027 na die oOoOO

The easiest means to get rich before 📌💯

If true expect the black market and official rates to begin to diverge sharply in the coming weeks

So BDCs is now a business? What are u selling? What are u buying? Thieves

Same story all the time
They know where to source for dollars

Only the rich deal with dollars, I haven't seen dollar in years....

They said it may be good for the naira but not for them.

Ladies and gentlemen, see the Patriots of the millennium.

Good. I hope it stays that way. Naira has stabilised, and hopefully, with time, will grow stronger against the dollar. This shows that BDCs are not needed.

They should close because they are part of the problem.
The banking sector just need sanitizing and everything would turn around.

Most people are no longer using these BDCs.
I don't even bring in cash anymore when coming to Nigeria. Everything is online.
They will have to go out of business or find other ways to do business.

Thanks to Tinubu, the black market rate and official rate are now closer than ever.

Kukutente23:
If true expect the black market and official rates to begin to diverge sharply in the coming weeks

It wont because you did not read the report.

Banks allow international spending on naira debit cards, which the BDC operators also acknowledged affects there business.

Well, I am not an economist but I suspect selling forex to BDC's goes against the spirit of a floating exchange.

At what rate is the central bank to sell to the BDC's when the exchange rate keeps fluctuating, day after day, and week after week?

Kukutente23:
If true expect the black market and official rates to begin to diverge sharply in the coming weeks

How? It has been like this for a long time. It is the reason we have a stable exchange rate. People should go to the bank and do their FX transactions.

Another dollar scarcity looming and 2k to a dollar close...

So after I posted this news; someone else copied it; modified it and post it online before mode uploaded his post.
Well done mode.

erniok:
It wont because you did not read the report.

Banks allow international spending on naira debit cards, which the BDC operators also acknowledged affects there business.

You didn't explain how it won't
You don't seem to have good comprehension capacity
What is the relationship between BDC demand for foreign currency and using naira cards for international transactions?

Kukutente23:
If true expect the black market and official rates to begin to diverge sharply in the coming weeks

Diverge where?

Customers now prefer to do direct dollar transfer instead of looking for physical dollar to use and make payment.

They are the one who will maybe close shop

Truth234:
How? It has been like this for a long time. It is the reason we have a stable exchange rate. People should go to the bank and do their FX transactions.

People going to banks to do FX transactions will not improve forex supply for BDCs. The report is about a drop in supply for BDCs not drop in demand.
You are mixing things up

omoredia:
So BDCs is now a business? What are u selling? What are u buying? Thieves

The ones doing forex trading and crypto trading online, what are they buying are selling??

Kukutente23:
You didn't explain how it won't
You don't seem to have good comprehension capacity
What is the relationship between BDC demand for foreign currency and using naira cards for international transactions?

You obviously are the one that lacks comprehension.

When their services were needed was when banks stopped international spending on your naira debit cards. Asides that every other thing you need dollars for is taken care of by financial institutions.

Read, no only chochocho.

The BDCs are the ones who provide dollars to corrupt politicians

Emeskhalifa:
The ones doing forex trading and crypto trading online, what are they buying are selling??

Including gambling too cos they are all gambling

Everyone in Nigeria is looking for how to innovate and thrive, if your business is leading to devaluation of naira, then that business won't last because our currency must improve, CBN is not obliged to give you dollars. Let's focus on building the naira.

Emeskhalifa:
Diverge where?

Customers now prefer to do direct dollar transfer instead of looking for physical dollar to use and make payment.

They are the one who will maybe close shop

What were they using before?
BDCs have existed since the 70s

Elephant in the room, poor forex revenue.

That's more on the government

erniok:
You obviously are the one that lacks comprehension.

When their services were needed was when banks stopped international spending on your naira debit cards. Asides that every other thing you need dollars for is taken care of by financial institutions.

Read, no only chochocho.

You mean BDCs started to exist in Nigeria in 2017?
I'm impressed by your knowledge

Kukutente23:
If true expect the black market and official rates to begin to diverge sharply in the coming weeks

From the tone of the article, it did not start yesterday. It has been going on for long.

When Soludo introduced a flexible exchange rate policy, the BDC's were used to get forex to the end users directly and bypass the banks.

It seems with a floating exchange rate regime, things work differently. It does away with the BDC's. The primary use might when the CBN wants to defend the Naira when it comes under pressure and may sell lots of Dollars through the BDC so the currency does not fall.

They will still pass back and give to the highest bidders, their friends and cronies in the business.

Why can't cbn ban bdc once and for all and let everybody go through commercial banks

Wow.....business has seen harder times