The Central Bank of Nigeria has cautioned Nigerians in Diaspora to desist from patronising illegal Money Transfer Operators.
This was following the increasing patronage of illegal Money Transfer Operators by Nigerians in diaspora for the purpose of home remittances, saying they stand the risk of losing their hard-earned money.
The apex bank in a statement signed by Deputy Director Corporate Communications, Mr. Isaac Okoroafor, said these unscrupulous operators who lure unsuspecting customers with ridiculous exchange rate, use Naira accounts opened in local banks ostensibly for legal business to pay out the proceeds to the beneficiaries, while channeling the foreign currencies to fund the parallel market.
Okoroafor said this practice has led to non-reporting of such transactions to relevant authorities thereby undermining effective surveillance of the sector as well as leading to discrepancies in statistics on the transactions between countries of origin of remittance and the destination country, Nigeria.
He said the CBN also enjoined Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) to ensure painstaking conduct of “Know Your Customers’ Business” (KYB) in order to prevent the use of accounts for illegal transactions and avoid regulatory sanctions. In addition, such accounts, when discovered, will be blocked and the operators handed over to appropriate law enforcement agencies for prosecution.
He noted that the International Money Transfer Operators licensed and authorised by the Central Bank of Nigeria to remit money to Nigeria on behalf of Nigerians in the Diaspora as at November 9, 2016 are; AFTAB CURRENCY EXCHANGE LIMITED, AWS MALTA LIMITED, CAPEREMIT UK LIMITED, CASHPOT LIMITED, CENTREXCARD LIMITED, COLONY CAPITAL LIMITED, CP EXPRESS LIMITED, DAYTONA CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LIMITED, DT&T CORPORATION LIMITED, eTRANSACT LIMITED amongst others.
