The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Mr. Bello Hassan, has disclosed that the commission has disbursed N1.7 billion to over 42,000 depositors of failed banks.
This is as he also called on depositors of the 183 closed microfinance and primary mortgage banks, who have no Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs) to come forward and claim their insured deposit.
Hassan disclosed this on Saturday at the NDIC Editors’ Forum, which had the theme: ‘Stocktaking of Deposit Insurance Practice: Assessing the Past, Evaluating the Present and Forecasting the Future.’
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Bello said: “Earlier this year in May, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revoked the licenses of 183 institutions comprising microfinance banks and primary mortgage banks and we quickly advertised that the depositors of those institutions should come forward to get them verified so that we can pay them the insured amount.
“In terms of the insured amount paid today, we have paid more than N1.7 billion to more than 42,000 customers and we are calling on customers who had no BVN attached to their accounts in those microfinance banks to come forward and reach out to us at our offices across the six geopolitical zones so that they can get themselves verified so we can pay the insured amount,” he explained.
The NDIC boss added that the corporation has boosted depositor payouts, strengthened legal partnerships, and resolved longstanding bank closure cases through the recently introduced Single Customer View (SCV), judicial cooperation, and out-of-court settlements.
He added: “We have reinvigorated our recovery efforts, which led to substantial recovery of debt owed to banks in liquidation and that is why we can declare liquidation dividends for those banks. If you recall sometime earlier in the year, we advertised that we wanted to pay liquidation dividends to depositors, creditors and some institutions that are in liquidation even shareholders and people have successfully recovered a lot.
“We have reinvigorated the processes by visiting the customers that owed these banks and also through the sensitisation we have had with our lawyers representing us; we were able to win cases in court which led to the recovery of those debts,” he added.
Hassan outlined some of the corporation’s key achievements such as the introduction of the Single Customer View (SCV) framework that has enhanced the speedy payment of insured sums to depositors of closed banks.
“We have enhanced collaboration with the bar and bench, leading to speedy prosecution and more informed judgements on failed banks cases, including resolution of long-drawn cases of closed banks such as Fortune and Triumph Banks in-liquidation; we have equally put in place policy and framework for out-of-court settlement which had enabled us to resolve some hitherto protracted failed bank litigations.
“In complimenting the consumer protection efforts of the CBN, we have enhanced public awareness on deposit insurance and financial literacy to reduce the rate at which small depositors are being defrauded, thereby enhancing confidence in the banking system. We have invigorated our liquidation activities, and greatly increased debt recovery rate, leading to the declaration of 100 per cent liquidation dividends to uninsured depositors of over 20 deposit money banks in liquidation as well as payments to other stakeholders such as creditors, ex-staff and shareholders. We have also improved our system, process and procedures to promote transparency and accountability in our operations, amongst other humble achievements,” he added.
Nume Ekeghe
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