CBN to Refund Capital Deposits And Licensing Fees To BDC Promoters With Pending License Applications

The CBN will commence refund of capital deposits and licensing fees paid by promoters for new BDC licenses. This follows the outcome of the last MPC meeting and the ban of new BDC licenses.

This was contained in a circular issued on Wednesday to BDCs and deposit money banks by the CBN. The circular dated July 28 and signed by Ibrahim S. Tukur for the Director, Financial Policy And Regulation Department, reads:

“Further to the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) briefing of July 27, 2021 , the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will commence the immediate refund of capital deposits and licensing fees to promoters who have pending Bureaux de Change (BDC) licence applications with the CBN.

Accordingly, the CBN hereby advises as foltows :

1. Such BDC promoters should forward their requests for the refund in writing to the Director, Financial Policy and Regulation Department , Central Bank of Nigeria, Abuja . The requests should be accompanied with the following documents: Telex copy of the capital deposit of N35 million, Copy of the bank draft/telex for payment of licensing fee of N1 million (if any), Account details for the refund, which should be the same as the account from which the capital deposit originated, including the:
   • Bank name
   • Account name
   • Account number
2. Hardcopy of the request in ‘1’ above should be submitted to CBN Head Office, Central Business District, Abuja or CBN Head Office Annex, Tinubu Square, Lagos in an envelope clearly marked “Refund of BOC Capital Deposit” at its top left corner.
4. Softcopy of the request in ‘1’ above  may be sent in advance of the  hard copy to [email protected] .ng

In addition, all Deposit Money Banks are hereby directed to henceforth stop accepting instructions from customers to transfer capital deposit of N35 million to the designated CBN account for the purpose of applying for BDC licences”