The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) said, in the discharge of its deposit guarantee mandate, it has paid the insured deposits of N5,000,000 maximum per depositor of the defunct Heritage Bank within a record time of four days of the bank closure.
This was contained in a statement signed by Bashir Nuhu, director, Communication & Public Affairs of the corporation, on Sunday.
The payment, Techeconomy gathered, was achieved using Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) as a unique identifier to locate depositors’ alternate accounts in other banks.
However, depositors with balances exceeding 5 million naira have been paid the initial insured sum of 5 million naira, while the remaining balances (classified as uninsured deposits) will be paid as liquidation dividends upon realisation 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 percent of the total insured deposit to date”, the statement added.
Following the revocation of Heritage Bank’s banking license by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on June 3, 2024, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) was appointed as liquidator and the corporation, following Section 12(2) of BOFIA 2020 and Section 55 subsections 1 & 2 of the NDIC Act 2023, immediately commenced the process of verification and payment to insured depositors.
The corporation added that the next stage is the payment of insured deposits.
“It is instructive to state that, the remaining 17.64 percent 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.
“This category of depositors are presently being contacted by the corporation through telephone calls and text messages to come forward for verification”, it added.
The statement added, “Notwithstanding the significant progress recorded in the payment of the insured deposits, we are, however, not unmindful of the uninsured deposits, which constitute the larger portion of the total deposits of the defunct bank.
