NDIC pays depositors of failed banks N90bn, says MD

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), has so far paid depositors of 48 failed banks in the country a total of N90.13 billion as at December 2012.

In 2012 alone, the NDIC paid over N10 billion to depositors across the country.

The Managing Director of NDIC Umar Ibrahim disclosed this in Kaduna last Wednesday at NDIC special day at the on-going 34th edition of Kaduna International Trade fair.

He said also disclosed that a total of N2.50 billion had been paid to depositors of the 103 closed Micro finance Banks(MFBs) as at December 2012 as against the N2.25 billion that was paid to insured depositors of the closed micro finance banks across the country.

“That was not all, a cumulative liquidation dividend payment to shareholders of Alpha Merchant Bank, Nigeria Merchant Bank and Pan African Bank (in-liquidation) stood at N373.04 million, N620.0million and N293.0million respectively during the period. This was in addition to the settlement of all the depositors and creditors of the three banks,” he said.

According to him as part of measures taken to sanitize and strengthen the micro finance banks and primary mortgage banks, the NDIC revoked the licenses of the 103 failed Micro finance Banks and the 25 primary mortgage banks as well as reviewed the micro finance policy in Nigeria.

Ibrahim who was represented at function by the Director of Research and International Relations in the Corporation, Jacob Ade Afolabi, said the corporation was not only committed to its mandate since it commenced operations in the last two decades, but that the corporation had contributed to the various banking reforms that had been witnessed over the years in the nation’s banking sector.

He said: “Let me remind you of the fact that NDIC was establish by the Federal Government under the NDIC Decree 22 of 1988 which had been replaced by NDIC Act N0. 16 of 2006 to insure deposit liabilities of licensed financial institutions in Nigeria. The key mandate of the NDIC is to provide financial guarantee to depositors of the insured financial institutions in the event of failure with a view to enhancing public confidence in the nation’s banking system. Therefore the NDIC has a crucial role to play towards the safety, soundness and stability of the financial system.”

He said NDIC was not unaware of perennial problems between customers and banks on various issues such as bank charges, account balance and fraud. He however stated that “the Corporation has established a complaints unit in the Bank Examination Department and the Special Insured Institutions Department to cater for the need of customers of deposit money banks and primary mortgage banks/micro finance banks across the country.

BLESSING OLAIFA, Kaduna