The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation has announced that it has reimbursed 82.36% of customers from the now-defunct Heritage Bank who had deposits below the N5 million maximum insured amount.
Director of Communications and Public Affairs at NDIC, Bashir Nuhu, explained in a statement that this reimbursement was accomplished using customers’ Bank Verification Numbers linked to alternate accounts in other banks.
Nuhu said, “The Corporation began the payment of the insured deposits of Five Million Naira (N5,000,000) maximum per depositor within a record time of four (4) days of the bank closure.”
He added, “This was achieved using Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) as a unique identifier to locate depositors’ alternate accounts in other banks.”
Customers with deposits exceeding N5 million have received the insured amount of N5 million, while the remaining balance, known as uninsured deposits, will be paid later as liquidation dividends once the bank’s assets are sold and debts are recovered.
Nuhu highlighted, “This unprecedented achievement of direct payment through BVN-linked alternate accounts without the need for depositors to visit NDIC offices or fill out forms marks a historic shift for the NDIC in the prompt reimbursement of depositors.”
The remaining 17.64% of insured deposits are yet to be paid. This includes depositors whose accounts have post-no-debits (PND) instructions, those without BVN, or those with accounts having KYC limits on maximum lodgments. NDIC is currently contacting these depositors through phone calls and text messages for verification.
The NDIC has also started a debt recovery process and is working on realizing the defunct bank’s investments and assets to help reimburse customers with deposits over N5 million.
Nuhu stated, “Subsequently, after the full payment of both insured and uninsured portions of deposits, the Corporation will proceed with the payment of creditors in accordance with priority of claim as provided in the extant law. All payments other than that of insured deposits are subject to the availability and realization of the bank’s assets in the form of liquidation dividends.”
