Defunct Heritage Bank Customers’ Funds Safe – NDIC

The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, Bello Hassan, has reassured customers of the failed Heritage Bank that their funds in the bank are safe.

Hassan gave this reassurance at the 2024 NDIC Editors Forum held in Lagos on Saturday.

The NDIC boss, who was represented by the Executive Director (Operations), Mustapha Ibrahim, said, “the recent closure of Heritage Bank, following the revocation of its licence by the CBN on June 3, 2024, brings to the fore, NDIC’s critical role in safeguarding depositors.

“Acting by the relevant provisions of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act (BOFIA) 2020 and the NDIC Act 2023, the NDIC was appointed liquidator to manage the orderly resolution of the bank and oversee the payment of its depositors and other claimants.

“It is instructive that in the discharge of this critical role of depositor reimbursement, the corporation began the payment of the insured deposits of N5m per depositor within a record time of four days of the bank’s closure. This was achieved using Bank Verification Numbers as a unique identifier to locate depositors’ alternate accounts in other banks without the need to fill out forms or visit the NDIC offices.”

He said this approach has enabled the payment of most depositors with BVN-linked accounts to date.

“This is coming at a time when the corporation had recently increased the deposit insurance coverage from N500,000 to N5m in Deposit Money Banks which significantly minimised the negative impact of the bank’s failure on the affected depositors. This achievement is consistent with the provisions of the International Association of Deposit Insurers Core Principle 15, which emphasises timely payouts to depositors of failed banks.

“Having largely reimbursed depositors their insured deposits, the Corporation is committed to ensuring that depositors with balances exceeding N5m are also paid the balance of their deposits. These uninsured deposits represent a significant portion of the total deposits in Heritage Bank. In this regard, the Corporation is already working assiduously to ensure that depositors with amounts over the maximum insured amount of N5m are paid through liquidation dividends from the realisation of the defunct bank’s assets and recovery of debts.

“The corporation has already initiated the process of debt recovery and realisation of investments and physical assets of the defunct bank to ensure timely payment to the uninsured deposits of the defunct bank.”

The NDIC boss also reassured the creditors of the defunct bank, who he said will receive payments after all depositors have been fully reimbursed.

In June, the CBN revoked the licence of Heritage Bank and appointed NDIC as its liquidator.

Also speaking at the workshop, the Director of Communication and Public Affairs at the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, Bashir Nuhu, said the Forum themed ‘Strengthening Nigeria’s Financial Safety-Net: The Role of Deposit Insurance,’ provided a platform for the participants to learn about the Corporation.

Punch/Hauwa Abu