NDIC: We’ve paid N113.2bn to depositors of failed banks

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) says it paid the sum of N113.2 billion to depositors of failed banks in June, 2022.

Bello Hassan, NDIC managing director made the disclosure at the 2022 NDIC workshop, organised for the finance correspondents association of Nigeria (FICAN) and business editors on Monday in Port Harcourt.

The corporation said it cumulatively paid N11.83 billion to more than 443,949 insured depositors, and N101.37 billion to uninsured depositors of all categories of banks in-liquidation, as of June 2022.

A bank is said to be in liquidation when the firm and all its branches are permanently closed, selling off any assets and using the proceeds to settle as many of its remaining liabilities as possible.

“The NDIC bank liquidation mandate entails reimbursement of insured and uninsured depositors, creditors, and shareholders of banks in- liquidation,” NAN quoted Hassan as saying.

“The liquidation activities, as at June 30, 2022, covered a total of 467 insured financial institutions in-liquidation, comprising 49 DMBs, 367 MFBs, and 51 PMBs.”

Hassan said out of the 49 deposit money banks (DMBs) in-liquidation, the commission, in September, declared a 100 percent liquidation dividends in 20 of those institutions.

Liquidation dividend is money paid to a dissolving corporation’s shareholders. It is generally paid from the capital of the corporation, upon the decision to suspend all or part of its business operations.

Hassan said the corporation had realised enough funds from its assets to fully pay all depositors of the affected banks.

He said the corporation had also provided deposit insurance coverage to a total of 981 insured financial institutions.

The NDIC boss noted that the financial institutions insured include; 33 DMBs, made up of 24 commercial banks, six merchant banks and three non-interest banks (NIBs) plus two non-interest windows; 882 microfinance banks (MFBs); 34 primary mortgage banks (PMBs); three payment service banks (PSBs), and 29 mobile money operators.

Hassan said the corporation had in May, developed and deployed the single customer view (SCV) platform for the microfinance and primary mortgage banks, to strengthen its processes and procedure for data collection.

He explained that the platform would not only ensure availability of quality, timely and complete data to the NDIC, but also eliminate delays often experienced in reimbursing depositors, following revocation of institutions’ licences by the CBN.

He said the final phase of the implementation of the SCV for deposit money banks would be achieved through the incorporation of the platform’s template as part of the on-going integrated regulatory solution (IRS) being jointly developed with the CBN.

On consumer protection, Hassan said the corporation had strengthened its complaints resolution platforms, which included the toll-free help desk, social media handles, and complaints desks in the bank examination.

He said other strengthened platforms include the special insured institutions and claims resolutions departments, and the zonal offices to receive and process complaints from depositors.