The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) has advised over 4,500 Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN)-licenced Bureaux de Change (BDCs) to create or activate over 4,000 official/corporate emails on its platform and stop using Yahoo and Gmail for official communication.
Briefing financial journalists on the development in Lagos, ABCON President, Alhaji Aminu Gwadabe, said the advice followed a circular from the Other Financial Institutions (OFIs) Department of CBN, directing all OFIs including BDCs to adopt corporate e-mails for their communication with the apex bank.
He said: “We are also glad to inform the gathering that over 1,000 BDCs in the South-west have been integrated with the new CBN Forex return rendition platform. In due course, our members in the other zones shall be integrated to achieve online real time return rendition to CBN from the comfort of their offices. ABCON has created over 4,000 official emails on its platform www.abconng.org for its members to enhance compliance.”
Gwadabe said ABCON proactiveness in the automation of its members’ operations, has paid off, as all BDCs now have opportunity to re-active their official e-mails on the ABCON platform.
The ABCON boss said the rising threats of cyber-security attacks on the financial system means that all stakeholders, including BDCs must be proactive to protect their data, businesses, reputation and overall operations from cyber attackers.
He said e-mails have remained the weakest link on cyber-attacks and BDCs under his leadership will continue to upgrade their IT systems to ensure that they are ahead of the cyber criminals.
Gwadabe advised BDC’s to comply swiftly with the CBN policy on corporate e-mails, adding that cyber-attack can be launched through webmail and operators that are yet to integrate with the corporate e-mail may be at risk of losing huge capital or reputation, should there be system attacks.