Financial Times

Central Bank to get tough with money changers
The Central Bank will crack down on foreign exchange abuses by money changers with more frequent spot checks after announcing that it intends to raise the minimum deposit by 10 times, officials said.

The money changers themselves are staying mum on the new requirements, which come into effect this December when all money changing licences expire.

“We are still going through the circulars sent by the Central Bank ,” Razik Fareed, President, Money Changers Association said, adding that he does not want to comment further, as his council members did not want him to do so.
Meanwhile, Controller of Exchange, H.A.G. Hettiarachchi told The Sunday Times FT that the minimum deposit was decided in consultation with the Money Changers Association.

“We have given them six months to adjust to the new criteria and new applicants will have to come up with 10 million rupees in order to obtain a license,” he said. Earlier Rs 1 million was required for a trading licence.
However, sources said that the money changers were slammed with such a huge margin, mainly to reduce the number of money changers and to make it easier to monitor them.

They said there have been a lot of abuses by the money changers in the past, such as selling foreign currency on the black market. “The Central Bank carries out random checks once in a while, but would like to do it more frequently and bring about some order,” the source said. “We want to strengthen and discipline the conduct of the money changers,” Hettiarachchi said.

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