The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, has urged the Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria, ABCON, to play stronger role in anti-money laundering activities in order to mitigate the risk and vulnerabilities in the financial sector.
The apex bank also tasked Bureaux De Change, BDC, operators to embrace effective self-regulation.
Speaking during the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa, GIABA, Mutual Evaluation Exercise Sensitisation workshop for South West Bureaux de Change, BDCs, in Lagos, CBN Deputy Director, Other Financial Institutions Supervision Department, Mustafa Haruna, said: ” There is need for BDCs to ensure compliance with extant Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) laws and regulations to mitigate the risks and vulnerabilities in the sub-sector.”
He advised ABCON to develop and implement a code of conduct for members to promote ethical practices and transparency in the sector while also continually advising the apex bank on market intelligence on key industry issues.
Also speaking, ABCON President, Alhaji (Dr.) Aminu Gradable, said: “ABCON had consistently advised BDCs to put in place and implement, a system of internal policies, procedures and controls including Know Your Customer, Customer Due Diligence and reporting of all suspicious transactions to regulators.”
He said that ABCON is also training BDCs on regular basis on the need to keep transaction records, and get a designated compliance officer that has day-to-day oversight over AML/ CFT programme. He said “Compliance Officers have been taught the rules in preparing Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs), and rendering STRs’ returns to the Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU).”
