By Teddy Nwanunobi
Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, NDIC, yesterday, disclosed that it has paid 82.36% of insured deposits to customers of the defunct Heritage Bank.
The Director of Communication and Public Affairs, Bashir Nuhu, who made the disclosure in a statement, said that the step underscores the Corporation’s commitment to safeguarding depositors’ funds.
AljazirahNigeria recalls that the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, on June 3, had revoked the licence of Heritage Bank Plc due to the commercial bank’s “inability to improve its financial performance”.
Following the decision, NDIC said that a maximum of N5 million would be paid to each depositor of Heritage Bank.
Two days later, the Corporation said that it was already in the process of paying depositors of the Bank.
But on July 1, the NDIC said that discrepancies in bank verification numbers, BVN, were delaying payments to some customers.
Providing updates on Monday, Nuhu said that the payments of insured deposits above N5 million commenced within four days of the Bank’s closure.
He said that the NDIC was working to reach the remaining 17.64% of depositors.
The NDIC official noted that many of the remaining depositors had accounts with post-no-debit instructions, lacked BVN, or had no alternative accounts.
“In the discharge of its deposit guarantee mandate, the Corporation began the payment of the insured deposits of Five Million Naira (N5,000,000) maximum per depositor within a record time of four days of the bank closure.
“This was achieved using Bank Verification Numbers, BVN, as a unique identifier to locate depositors’ alternate accounts in other banks.
“However, depositors with balances exceeding Five Million Naira have been paid the initial insured sum of Five Million Naira, while the remaining balances ,classified as uninsured deposits, will be paid as liquidation dividends upon realization of the defunct bank’s assets and recovery of debts owed to the defunct bank.
“This unprecedented achievement of direct payment through BVN-linked alternate accounts without the need for depositors to visit NDIC offices or fill out forms marks a historic shift for the NDIC in the prompt reimbursement of depositors with payment of about 82.36% of the total insured deposit to date.
“It is instructive to state that, the remaining 17.64% of the insured deposits yet to be paid were largely depositors whose accounts have post no debits, PND, instructions or have no BVN.
“Others are those with no alternative accounts in other banks or accounts with KYC limit on the maximum lodgement per day and are yet to come forward for verification”, NDIC said.
Nuhu said that the corporation is actively engaging these depositors through phone calls and text messages.
He assured the public that the NDIC is working to recover assets and debts to facilitate payments to the depositors through liquidation dividends.
The Director said that once all insured and uninsured deposits are settled, the NDIC would proceed with payments to creditors according to legal priority.
He also said that the corporation is dedicated to protecting depositors’ funds and urged the public to continue banking confidently.
