Finance · Nigeria
Obtain a Bureau de Change licence (CBN)
License a BDC with the CBN under the 2024 Guidelines (Tier 1 or Tier 2): choose tier → Approval-in-Principle → Provisional Approval & integration → Final Approval.
4
2
Who you will deal with
The steps
- Choose the tier and reserve the name
- Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) / CAC
- Tier 1: ₦2bn capital, nationwide operation (application fee ₦1m, licence fee ₦5m). Tier 2: ₦500m capital, up to 5 branches in one state (application fee ₦250k, licence fee ₦2m). Reserve the company name.
- Chosen tier; reserved name; capital plan
- Selection
- Apply for Approval-in-Principle (AIP)
- Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
- Apply for AIP (a pre-condition to incorporation, not authority to operate); lodge the required capital with the CBN.
- AIP application; capital lodgement; promoter details
- AIP phase
- Obtain Provisional Approval and integrate
- Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
- Within 6 months of AIP obtain Provisional Approval; within 60 days satisfy PA conditions and integrate into CBN, NIBSS, NFIU and FIRS reporting architecture.
- Incorporation; PA conditions; systems integration
- PA + 60 days
- Obtain Final Approval / licence
- Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)
- On meeting all conditions, the CBN grants Final Approval to commence operations.
- Completed PA conditions; licence fee
- On approval
Also in finance
The numbers behind the decision
Knowing the process is half of it. ONYX also tracks the operating environment you are entering — daily grid generation, official FX, state-level input prices and inflation, and sector output — each figure source-linked and dated.