The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has directed all banks in the country to publish the names and Bank Verification Number (BVN) of defaulters of the new forex policy.
A circular with reference number BSD/DIR/PUB/LAB/14/059, dated August 30 2021, signed by the Director, Banking Supervision Department, Haruna Mustafa, and addressed to all banks in the country, expressed concern about reports of sharp practices by some unscrupulous customers to circumvent the new CBN policy on the sale of forex for overseas personal and business travel.
According to the circular, some of the practices include use of fake visas and cancellation of air tickets after purchase of PTA/BTA, adding that the trend, if not curbed, portends risk to the integrity and stability of the forex market.
“Consequently, further to the various measures already put in place, all banks are hereby directed to publish on their websites the names and BVN of defaulting customers who present fake travel documents or cancel their tickets and fail to return the purchased PTA/BTA within two (weeks) as stipulated in the customer declaration form signed by them,” it reads.
Recall that the apex bank had stopped forex to the Bureau De Change Operators, expressing disappointment that the BDCs had defeated their purpose of existence to provide forex to the retail users.
“Operators in the BDC have not reciprocated the gesture to help maintain price stability in the market since the CBN had been selling forex to them.
“They have remained renegade and so greedy, recalcitrant with abnormally high profit from these sales while ordinary Nigerians have been left to feel the pain and therefore suffer.
“Given this rent-seeking behavior, it is not surprising that since the CBN began to sell forex to the BDCs, the number of operators has risen from a mere 74 in 2005 to over 2,700 in 2016, and almost 5,500 BDCs as at today.
“In addition, the CBN constantly receives nothing less than 500 new applications from BDC licenses every month, and we, therefore, begin to wonder, what is in this business that everybody must be in it?” the CBN governor, Emefiele had said.
