BDC Operators Identify Those Causing Naira To Depreciate Against The Dollar, Reveal Next Line Of Action

The President of the Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Aminu Gwadabe, has identified those responsible for the recent wave of depreciation of the naira against other foreign currencies, such as the United States dollar.

According to him, some peer-to-peer (P2P) platforms operating in the country, where speculators use the dollar to buy USDT, are responsible for the naira’s depreciation.

He argued that as long as such platforms remain profitable, the naira would continue to depreciate.

Gwadabe, who made his mind known during an interview with newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday, however, said ABCON is ready to work with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and other industry regulators to bring sanity into the system.

He stated that the BDC operators are committed to warding off attacks on the Naira by speculators and also check excesses of its own members.

“We have inaugurated state chapters whereby we can have data repository of participants in the forex market.

“This is for the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to understand this market and to know the participants, give them a simple registration,’’ he said.

Gwadebe said harmonisation, centralisation and KYC to know all participants in the business are needed.

“This will enable the CBN to track other players in the market other than the BDCs and their levels of involvement.

“The BDCS are collaborating with the regulatory authorities for physical verification of offices using technology.

“We want to balance international obligations with our own objectives. International obligations are templates that have been built without our imput.

“We are coming with our own template to balance it. We have seen some illegal economic behaviour, and the CBN and the security agencies are aware, and I am sure they will nip it in the bud,’’ he said.

On the depreciation of the naira, Gwadabe said: “I am happy that the authorities, and even the BDCs as operators, have identified the peer-to-peer (P2P) platform.

“The P2P is a platform like the Binance, where speculators use the dollar to buy USDT, a sdablecoin that is pegged at one to the dollar.

“As long as Binance and such other platforms continue to be profitable, the Naira will continue to depreciate.

“There are many of them in the system. Binance has been nipped in the bud, but there are still many. They are online platforms with no registration, no restrictions.’’

Gwadabe said that the CBN and the security agencies were already aware of the antics of the platforms and ready to curb their illegal behaviours.

“People have turned dollar to be an asset; to be a commodity of trade that is why those platforms continue to thrive.

“We have seen where people are buying dollars into their domiciliary accounts to finance these schemes.

“A lot of millions of dollars are going out from the system. It is one USD to one USDT. The market can be liquid.

“Binance alone has four billion dollars liquidity and more than two million transactions.

“Most of them source money to finance their transactions from the open market, and that is one of the reasons why Naira is depreciating,’’ he said.