The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has directed all banks to publish names and Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) of customers who try to break the rules of Forex acquisition on their website. The CBN on Monday, August 30th issued a circular ((BSD/DIR/PUB/LAB/14/059) to all banks lamenting that it has “received and noted with concern reports of sharp practices by some unscrupulous customers to circumvent the new CBN policy on the sale of forex for overseas personal and business travel”. Some of the unwholesome practices, the CBN said: “include the use of fake visas and cancellation of air tickets purchase of PTA/BTA”. Haruna B. Mustapha Director Banking Supervision Department of the CBN, who signed the circular, noted that if the trend is not curbed, it portends risk to the integrity and stability of the forex market.
“The CBN has received and noted with concern reports of sharp practices by some unscrupulous customers to circumvent the new CBN policy on the sale of forex for overseas personal and business travel.
“Some of these unwholesome practices include the use of fake visas and cancellation of air tickets after purchase of PTA/BTA. This trend, if not curbed, portends risk to the integrity and stability of the forex market.
The circular ordered that “Consequently, further to the various measures already put in place, all banks are hereby directed to publish on their websites the names and BVN of defaulting customers who present fake travel documents or cancel their tickets and fail to return the purchased PTA/BTA within two (weeks) as stipulated in the customer declaration form signed by them.”
