The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) says it’s investigating a Bureau De Change (BDC) operator, Crown Agent, for selling dollars below the official rate.
According to data from FMDQ securities, where official forex trading takes place, at the Investors and Exporters window, the naira closed at N744.97/$1 on Tuesday, September 5, 2023.
While most of the Bureau de Change operators, otherwise known black marker dealers sold dollar as high as N920/$1 today.
This means that the BDC operator must have been selling the forex below N700 per dollar, which CBN considered too cheap and may have been from illegal sources.
The acting CBN Governor, Folashodun Shonubi, revealed the ongoing probe to journalists.
“We have reason to believe that, we have been working with international agencies on this. We are looking at those who do not follow through the normal system, send it through them, and sell it to Nigerian companies.
"They can expect to hear from us shortly. And they will not be the only ones.” The move by the CBN to clamp down on BDCs is part of its ongoing effort to ensure stability in the foreign exchange market.