Following the revocation of licences of 179 microfinance banks and four Primary Mortgage Banks by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation has assured depositors of the closed banks of speedy payment of their insured sums.

The Managing Director/Chief Executive, NDIC, Mr Bello Hassan, gave this assurance in a statement after the revocation of licences of the affected MFBs and PMBs by the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Emefiele.

In the statement signed by the Director, Communication & Public Affairs Department, NDIC, Bashir Nuhu, the NDIC boss stated that the insured deposit was the first claim that the corporation paid to depositors upon revocation of bank’s licence by the CBN.

He added that, maximum specified limits for the MFB and PMB sub-sectors are N200,000 and N500,000 per depositor per bank, respectively.

As liquidator, the managing director said, “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 that the soundness of the banking system was not compromised, and that there was no need for the public to panic over the safety of their bank deposits.

Hassan said, as deposit insurer, 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 urged such depositors to get 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.