The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has concluded arrangement to launch its portal www.naijabdcs.com, a live rate engine room created by the association to promote transparency and price discovery in the foreign exchange (forex) market.
Speaking to financial journalists ahead of the portal launch in Lagos, ABCON President, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, said the group had secured the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN’s) no- objection approval on the engine room.
The approval, he said, reaffirmed the regulator’s commitment to a transparent and viable forex market where stakeholders’ interests are protected. Gwadabe said the world is going digital, and Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators under his leadership are committed to staying ahead of the competition by deploying timetested technology to deliver effective services to their numerous customers.
He said the objective is to make www. naijabdcs.com a household name in financial reporting, coverage and first choice for investors and tourists in accessing quality and reliable information on forex market and rates.
According to him, the new engine room will sustain transparent transactions in the BDC corridor, boost the morale of its members and ensure their continuous operations. The ABCON chief said the group had fully upgraded its Information Communication and Technology (ICT) platforms, to achieve full digitization of BDCs operations in line with its goal of sustaining transparent operation and prompt rendition of weekly returns to operators.
He said this would serve as a reliable platform for local and international investors, who will rely on it to access uniform forex rate across states, regions and markets nationally. He said the Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Kano and Onitsha markets always have different forex rates, which will be captured by the live-rate engine at all times. “The new live rate engine will provide buying and selling rates across different cities and also average national rate for the country. All the CBN-approved BDCs will key into this revolution meant to transform the forex market, and keep speculators out of the market,” he said.
The ABCON boss also said the portal will contain BDCs location, and their numbers thereby giving forex buyers direct access to genuine operators to reinforce operatorcustomer confidence in the market.
He said the live-rate engine will also serve as an information site, where investors and general public will rely on to get and read reliable and timely financial market reports. Gwadabe said that in the era of `fake news’, financial journalists would find the engine room the first point of call in sourcing for data on the forex market and rates.
“The www. naijabdcs.com is expected to be a flagship website for news on the economy, banking & finance and business.
The website is expected to be an agenda setting outfit, meant to amplify developments in the economy, particularly the financial services sector, through informed reporting and coverage,” he said. Gwadabe said ABCON is working with the Nigeria Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS) to ensure that BDC operations and their systems remain transparent, adding that operators will continue to render their weekly returns as in line with CBN’s guidelines.
He said the partnership with NIBSS is to promote verification and validation of data identity in transparency of forex deals and sustain confidence among investors, tourists and anti-money laundering compliance in the country
