By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Friday said 2,586 Bureaux De Change (BDCs) operators has met its new minimum capital requirement of N35 million.

In an updated list posted on the apex bank’s official website, it recertified 14 more BDCs to continue operating in the industry.

On August 15, last year, the CBN announced that a total of 2, 442 BDCs has met the new capital requirement as at July 31, 2014. Similarly, it added 51 more BDCs to the list on September 5, 2014.

On November 14 and November 28, 2014, the CBN added 15 and 11 more BDCs to the list operators that have recapitalised to do business in the industry.

In the same vein, on January 9, 2015, the central bank announced that 21 more firms had been added to the list, bringing the total number of BDCs to 2, 523.

 Also, on February 06, the CBN announced it has recertified 28 BDCs to continue operating in the industry.

Nigeria’s central Bank had on Monday June 23, 2014, increased the minimum capital requirement for BDC operators in Nigeria from  N10 million to N35 million, then a total of 3, 208 BDCs were officially registered with the CBN.

The CBN said it was to sanitise the industry and rid it of unscrupulous elements, making it mandatory for operators to make a cautionary deposit of N35 million expected to be deposited in a non-interest yielding account in the CBN upon the grant of an approval- in-principle.