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The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has officially delisted all legacy Bureau De Change (BDC) operators that failed to meet its revised licensing requirements by 30 November 2025, rendering them ineligible to operate in the country.
The announcement was contained in a new Frequently Asked Questions document on ongoing BDC sector reforms, published on the CBN’s website on Tuesday. It follows confirmation earlier in the week that only 82 BDCs successfully met the updated regulatory standards and have been granted licences.
The enforcement marks the end of an extended compliance window. Under the updated BDC Guidelines, operators were initially given six months—from 3 June to 3 December 2024—to comply with new requirements. The CBN later approved an additional six-month extension, which expired on 3 June 2025, to give operators more time to align with the strengthened standards.
With the final cutoff now in effect, the CBN has clarified that any BDC that did not comply by 30 November automatically forfeited its licence.
According to the apex bank:
Any legacy BDC that failed to meet the requirements of the new Guidelines as of 30 November 2025 has ceased to be a BDC, as its licence no longer exists. Please visit the CBN website for the updated list of existing BDCs in Nigeria.
The CBN also noted that it will continue to accept applications through its Licensing, Approval and Requests Portal, and eligible applicants will be considered for licences. However, it emphasised that it retains the discretion to halt BDC licensing at any point.
These reforms are part of broader efforts to enhance transparency, improve compliance, and strengthen stability in Nigeria’s foreign exchange market. Introduced in February 2024, the revised regulatory framework raised minimum capital requirements to N2 billion for Tier-1 BDCs and N500 million for Tier-2 operators.
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