By Segun Olatunji, Kaduna

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation said on Thursday in Kaduna that it had so far paid the sum of N69.90bn as aggregate dividend to the depositors of 48 liquidated banks in the country.

The NDIC said it had also paid about N7.6bn out of the N17.9bn total insured amount to the depositors of the 48 closed banks.

The corporation added that a total of N641.6m has been paid to depositors of 84 closed microfinance banks across the country, while arrangements were being made to dispose of the assets of the affected MFBs for the payment of depositors’ uninsured funds.

Managing Director, NDIC, Alhaji Umar Ibrahim, who disclosed these on the occasion of the corporation’s special day at the ongoing 32nd Kaduna International Trade Fair, said that the various amounts had been paid to the depositors of the closed commercial and microfinance banks across the country as at December last year.

Ibrahim also stated that a final dividend of 100 per cent of total deposits had been declared for 11 of the 48 liquidated banks, which he described as an indication that all the depositors of those banks must have fully recovered their deposits.

He added that the N7.6bn total insured deposits already paid to the depositors of the 48 closed banks represented 42.6 per cent of the total insured claims.

He said, “As a deposit insurer, the corporation guarantees payment to depositors in the event of failure of an insured bank. At present, the maximum insurance limit is N500,000 for deposit money banks and N200,000 for microfinance banks and primary mortgage institutions, which were recently increased from the coverage limits of N200,000 and N100,000 for Deposit Money Banks and microfinance banks and primary mortgage institutions, respectively.

“The corporation had as at December 2010 paid out about N7.6bn insured deposits out of N17.9bn total insured amount, representing 42.6 per cent of total insured claims, to the depositors of 48 closed banks. Also, just last year, the corporation had course to embark on the liquidation of 103 microfinance banks, following the revocation of their licences by the CBN.”

The NDIC boss also said, “The first round of the payout, which was done through Intercontinental Bank Plc, took place in November 2010. As at December 2010, a total of N641.6m was paid to depositors of 84 closed microfinance banks as insured sums, while arrangements to dispose of the assets of the affected MFBs for the payment of the uninsured sums had already commenced in earnest. Infact, adverts had been placed in major dailies for the sale of the fixed assets of some MFBs.”

 

Source: Punch