Why There’s a Delay in Heritage Bank Customers’ Payments – NDIC

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has identified account name discrepancies linked to Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) as the primary cause for delays in the payment of insured deposits to customers of the now-defunct Heritage Bank.

Mr. Bello Hassan, Managing Director of the NDIC, shared this information with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Abuja.

According to Hassan, the corporation has successfully paid a substantial number of depositors who did not encounter BVN-related issues. He urged those yet to receive their insured deposit alerts to visit the NDIC’s website and complete the necessary verification forms.

“We have already commenced the payment of customers since June 6,” Hassan said. “We have paid a substantial amount to the customers. We leverage the BVN of customers, trace alternate accounts in other banks, and pay them their insured amounts. However, some challenges exist due to discrepancies between account names.”

He called on depositors facing these issues to complete their verification forms to facilitate the payment process.

Regarding depositors with balances exceeding five million naira, Hassan noted they would be compensated through liquidation dividends. He explained that the NDIC is in the process of disposing of physical assets and recovering loans and advances previously granted by the bank to fund these payments.

“We are not going to wait until we recover everything,” Hassan added. “As we recover assets, we will announce the payment of liquidation dividends, and concerned depositors should be on the lookout for alerts in their accounts.”

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) revoked Heritage Bank’s license on June 3, citing the bank’s failure to improve its financial performance and the resulting threat to financial stability.