No fewer than 36,163 depositors of 110 closed Microfinance Banks (MFBs) and three Primary Mortgage Banks (PMBs) have been paid N1.39 billion by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC).

The Managing Director of NDIC, Mr. Bello Hassan, made the disclosure at the NDIC Special Day, at the 2023 Lagos International Trade Fair, on Thursday in Lagos.

Hassan said the corporation promptly commenced the liquidation of these banks and began disbursing insured sums to depositors within a record time of three days of the banks’ closure.

This, he said, followed the recent revocation of licenses of some MFBs and PMBs by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

He said the payments of the statutory insured sums were still ongoing.

Hassan explained that depositors with funds exceeding the insured limit would receive liquidation dividends after the recovery of debts and the sale of the closed banks’ physical assets.

“In another development, the corporation is currently in the process of verifying and paying liquidation dividends to depositors and stakeholders of 20 banks in liquidation including Allied Bank, Peak Merchant Bank, Commerce Bank.

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“Continental Merchant Bank, Financial Merchant Bank, Fortune Bank, Gulf Bank, Hallmark Bank, Icon Merchant Bank, Liberty Bank, Nigeria Merchant Bank, North South Bank, Premier Commercial Bank, Prime Merchant Bank, Progress Bank, and Merchant Bank,” he said.

Hassan, represented by Mr. Nuhu Bashir, Director, Corporate Communications, NDIC, urged the general public, especially traders and businessmen, to always ensure that their funds were saved in licensed banks.

He advised them to avoid patronage of wonder banks and Ponzi schemes which always leave their victims with untold stories.

The Star