CBN Moves to Curb FX Diversion With Real-Time BDC Tracker

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has placed Bureau De Change transactions under closer digital supervision as it seeks to prevent foreign currency obtained through official channels from moving into unauthorised markets.

Under the new arrangement, licensed BDC operators will report their foreign exchange purchases through the FX BDC Purchase Tracker, a central portal created to give regulators transaction-level visibility across the retail segment of the currency market.

Information must be submitted either immediately or before the end of the transaction day. This replaces a reporting structure that often left regulators examining transactions after funds had already changed hands or been deployed.

The directive was communicated in a circular signed by Aderinola Shonekan, director of the CBN’s Trade and Exchange Department.

Registration on the platform and timely transaction reporting are compulsory for licensed operators with regulatory penalties expected for non-compliance.

The system provides the CBN with a clearer view of which BDCs are buying foreign currency, how much they are purchasing and whether individual operators are staying within the limits established for the market.

Its introduction follows the February 2026 decision that restored eligible BDCs’ access to foreign exchange from Authorised Dealer Banks.

Under that policy, an operator with a valid licence can purchase as much as $150,000 weekly at market-determined rates to meet legitimate retail requirements.

Reopening the window increased the number of channels through which individuals and small businesses could obtain foreign currency.

It also created a monitoring challenge as the CBN needed to ensure that dollar allocations intended for retail customers were not resold through informal channels or accumulated for speculative purposes.

The tracker is designed to close that gap.

Centralising purchase records should make it more difficult for an operator to acquire foreign exchange from multiple banks without the transactions being identified.

The system could also expose unusually large balances, repeated purchases and funds that remain unused beyond reasonable periods.

This matters because weaknesses in retail-market supervision can undermine broader foreign exchange reforms. If officially sourced dollars are diverted into the parallel market, the resulting scarcity can widen the difference between exchange rates and weaken confidence in the regulated system.

The framework therefore represents more than an administrative reporting requirement. It links continued access to bank-supplied foreign currency with a BDC’s ability to demonstrate where and when the funds were obtained.

Authorised Dealer Banks may also benefit from having a central reference point when processing requests. Greater visibility should help them determine whether an operator has already reached its weekly purchase ceiling elsewhere.

For compliant BDCs, the platform could improve credibility and strengthen their role as recognised providers of foreign exchange for travel, medical expenses, education and other approved retail needs.

Operators that previously benefited from weak documentation or overlapping purchases will face greater scrutiny.

The effectiveness of the system will nevertheless depend on the quality of the information submitted and the CBN’s ability to act on warning signs.

Digital reporting alone cannot eliminate diversion if transactions are recorded inaccurately or sanctions are applied inconsistently.

It will also be necessary to connect purchase information with evidence of subsequent sales. Monitoring the acquisition of dollars establishes only one side of the transaction; regulators must still determine whether the currency ultimately reaches legitimate customers at acceptable margins.

The new tracker signals that the CBN intends to preserve BDC access to official foreign exchange while imposing stricter conditions on that access.

Rather than remove operators from the system entirely, the bank is attempting to make their activities more visible and accountable.