The dollar is still king
Immigrants and Nigerians in the diaspora who have been sending and exchanging dollars through Super Agents and Payment solution service providers such as Interswitch, Flutterwave, Unified Payments and others can no longer do so.
The Nigerian Central Bank has imposed an immediate ban on these foreign exchange and payment solution service providers and disconnected them from the Payment Outwards System.
Banks received a directive from the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS) to disconnect Switches, Payment Solution Service Providers, and Super Agents from the Instant Payment System.
The circular, dated December 5, 2023 (Ref: NIBSS/BD/NI/PO/005/051223), outlined that listing non-deposit-taking financial institutions as beneficiaries goes against the Central Bank of Nigeria’s electronic payment guidelines.
This directive impacts major players like Interswitch, Flutterwave, Remita, Moniepoint, eTranzact, and Paystack. Others are ChamsSwitch, Terra Switching and Processing, Appzone, Arca Payments Company, Coralpay, Habaripay, Hydrogen Payment Services, Network International, Unified Payment Services, and Xpress Payment Solutions.
It said, “This is to bring to your attention that listing non-deposit-taking financial institutions such as Switching Companies, Payment Solution Service Providers, and Super Agents as beneficiary institutions on your NIP funds transfer channels contravenes the CBN Guidelines on Electronic Payment of Salaries, Pensions, Suppliers, and Taxes in Nigeria dated February 2014.”
The rise and rise of unofficial Bureau De Change operators in Canada and abroad
There has been an unprecedented increase in the number of unofficial Bureau de Change operators in Canada, USA, UK, Dubai and other countries.
Run by individuals, the system is entirely based on trust and community “moral guarantee.”
With the new foreign exchange clampdown in Nigeria, the unofficial foreign exchange market will boom even further, as the dollar thirst grows.
The personal remittances received in Nigeria increased by 0.7 billion U.S. dollars (+3.59 per cent) in 2022 in comparison to the previous year. In total, the personal remittances received amounted to 20.13 billion U.S. dollars in 2022.
A remittance is a non-commercial transfer of money by a nonresident worker, a member of a diaspora community, for household income in their home country.
Workers’ remittances are a significant part of international capital flows, especially regarding labor-exporting countries
NB: Remitbee is not among the entities affected by the CBN ban
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