June 05, (THEWILL) – The Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) says the payment of depositors in Heritage Bank will commence before the end of the week.
THEWILL earlier reported that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had revoked the operational licence of Heritage Bank on Monday, due to its inability to improve its financial status. The apex bank also appointed the NDIC as a Liquidator.
As early as 7 am on Wednesday, hundreds of customers crowded the entrance of the Calabar head office of the bank, demanding access to retrieve their money.
Speaking on the bank’s liquidation in Abuja on Wednesday, Managing Director of NDIC, Bello Hassan, assured depositors that the corporation was already in the process of paying them.
Insisting that NDIC will take less than 30 days as stipulated by law, Hassan said all the customers will be settled within one week.
He explained that all depositors are currently being verified for onward payment of insured benefit of N5 million, while depositors with insured deposits above N5 million naira will be paid upon the sale of the assets of the bank.
There are about 116 branches of heritage banks across the country. Hassan said total bank deposits at Heritage Bank stand at N650 billion, while its loan portfolio stands at over N700 billion.
The NDIC put the total number of depositors at the bank at 2.3 million with 99 percent of them having total balances less than five million naira.
