Reports have it that the apex bank has banned commercial banks from selling forex to the black marketers to arrest the free fall of the local currency.
Godwin Emefiele, CBN Governor
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has suspended all the banks, with exception of First Bank, from selling dollars proceeds of international money transfer services (IMTS) to Bureaux De Change (BDCs).
Two months ago, the CBN had directed banks to sell proceeds of their international money transfer services to BDCs. This was in a bid to address the steady and sharp depreciation of the naira in the parallel market.
Vanguard investigation however revealed that most of the banks were not complying with this directive, preferring to do brisk business with the proceeds.
This generated several complains from the BDCs, with the Association of Bureaux De change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) calling for a review of the policy measure. Reporters reliably gathered that the CBN decided to sanction the banks following investigation which revealed most of the were either not complying or were circumventing the directive.
There is no official report from CBN concerning the rumoured ban. It would be recalled that the apex bank has licensed Travelex to issue foreign exchange to the parallel market.