Lagos – Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has urged the CBN to register another independent forex distributor to complement the services of Travelex.

Gwadabe told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Tuesday that the registration had become necessary to meet the needs of over 3,000 BDCs nationwide.

“ABCON wants the CBN to register another independent distributor of forex because only Lagos is live on Travelex window,’’ Gwadabe said.

According to him, the Travelex window is servicing about 1,700 BDCs residing in Lagos, excluding others across the country.

The ABCON chief noted that as soon as the apex bank appointed another licensed distributor, liquidity challenges in the market would be a thing of the past.

He said that ABCON was appreciative of the efforts put in by the apex bank in liberalising the forex market, adding that its members were already operating according to the guidelines of the CBN.

Gwadabe commended the CBN for its plans to enlist 20 more International Money Transfer organisations (IMTO) in facilitating Diaspora remittances to the country.

He explained that Diaspora remittances were expected to hit 30 billion dollars by the end of the year, leading to a greater appreciation of the Naira.

NAN reports that since the CBN directed Travelex, a licensed IMTO, to sell the proceeds of Diaspora remittances to BDCs, the naira had sustained recovery across all segments of the market.

However, only about 1,700 BDCs have had access to the Travelex window at the moment.

The transparency in the sale of forex has facilitated the reduction in the gap between the official interbank and the parallel market rates.