Depositors in 179 Microfinance Banks (MFBs) and four Primary Mortgage Banks (PMBs) whose operational licenses were recently revoked by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would speedily receive payments of their insured sums, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has assured.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive of NDIC, Bello Hassan gave the assurance in a statement following the announcement of the revocation of the licenses of the affected MFBs and PMBs by the Governor of the CBN, Godwin Emefiele.
As a deposit insurer, Hassan said the NDIC would begin the process of payment of the insured sums immediately with the verification of eligible depositors at the respective premises of the closed banks.
He enjoined the affected depositors to obtain the required documents for the exercise, such as proof of account ownership, verifiable means of identification and alternate bank account to facilitate their seamless verification and payment of their insured deposits.
The NDIC Boss stated that the insured deposit was the first claim the Corporation pays to depositors upon revocation of bank’s license by the apex regulatory authority in the country’s banking sector.
He said the maximum specified limits for the MFB and PMB sub-sectors are N200,000 and N500,000 per depositor per bank, respectively.
As liquidator, the MD/CE disclosed that the Corporation has also put machinery in motion to commence sales of assets of the defunct banks as well as recover debts owed to them in order to declare liquidation dividends on pro rata basis to the affected depositors with claims exceeding the maximum insured sums of N200,000 for MFBs and N500,000 for PMBs.
He assured that regulatory authorities were leaving no stone unturned to ensure the soundness of the banking system was not compromised, stressing that there was no need for the public to panic over the safety of their bank deposits.