The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has announced the successful disbursement of N5 million each to 82.36 per cent of customers of the defunct Heritage Bank Plc, following the bank’s license revocation by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
In a statement released on Sunday by the Director of Communication and Public Affairs, Bashir Nuhu, the NDIC revealed that the disbursement commenced within just four days of Heritage Bank’s liquidation.
This swift action was made possible by the use of Bank Verification Numbers (BVNs), which allowed the NDIC to identify and credit depositors’ alternative accounts in other banks without requiring them to visit NDIC offices or fill out forms.
“Within a record time of four days, the NDIC began the payment of insured deposits of up to N5 million per depositor.
This unprecedented achievement was realized through the use of BVNs as a unique identifier to locate depositors’ alternate accounts in other banks,” Nuhu stated.
The NDIC’s swift action follows the CBN’s decision on June 3, 2024, to revoke the banking license of Heritage Bank Plc.
The apex bank cited persistent financial instability and regulatory breaches as the reasons for the license withdrawal, a move aligned with the CBN’s mandate under Section 12 of the Banks and Other Financial Institutions Act 2020 to ensure the stability of Nigeria’s financial system.
While the NDIC has successfully disbursed the insured deposits to the majority of Heritage Bank’s 2.3 million customers, 17.64 per cent of the insured deposits remain pending.
These pending payments are primarily associated with depositors whose accounts are subject to Post-No Debits instructions or lack a BVN.
Nuhu further explained that depositors with balances exceeding the N5 million insurance limit, categorized as uninsured deposits, would receive their remaining funds as liquidation dividends once the defunct bank’s assets are realized and debts are recovered.
“For those depositors with balances above N5 million, the initial insured sum has been paid.
The remaining balances will be disbursed as liquidation dividends upon the realization of the defunct bank’s assets,” he added.
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