NDIC: Failed Bank Depositors, Customers Paid Between N5m, N2m

Adedayo Akinwale in Abuja

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has revealed that it paid from N5 million to N2 million as deposit guarantee to depositors of commercial banks that have been liquidated.

The Managing Director, NDIC, Mr. Thompson Sunday, stated this while responding to a question during the 2026 budget defence session before the House of Representatives Committee on Insurance and Actuarial Matters on Thursday on how depositors and customers of commercial banks that have become bankrupt and taken over by the NDIC citing the recent case of defunct Heritage Bank.

Sunday said, “We do not collect all the deposits that banks receive. What we take is premium, which is now less than one per cent. It used to be 15 over 16 of 1 per cent. So, we guarantee the deposit on that basis. The job we do is different from other deposit-taking companies like insurance companies because for us, the premium is paid by the bank.

“The depositor benefits when there is an event of crisis and the NDIC is there to make sure that the banks are properly run.

“The guaranteed sum is N5 million for PMBs and MMOs and deposit money banks. For other financial institutions, we refer to microfinance banks as other financial institutions, it’s N2 million. So, that is the guaranteed sum.

“Maybe there will be something more outside that. So, the first thing we do, even without you having to come to the corporation or go to the bank, we use your BVN to locate your account in other banks and we send N5 million or N2 million depending on the class of the institution. Anything N5 million below, we send without you having to come.

“Thereafter, upon the revocation of the licence, since you used Heritage Bank as an example, the licence of Heritage was revoked on the 3rd of June 2024. The institution was thereafter handed over to the NDIC as liquidator.

“So, we paid the guaranteed sum. Then, we will now realise the assets. We sell the buildings, the machineries and everything of the bank. We also go after those who have borrowed and refuse to pay.

“We also realise the investment of the bank and then we start paying what is called liquidation dividends. So, it means that on top of that N5 million, whatever we realise from the sale of assets, from the loans that we are collecting, from the investments that we are realising, we start paying people.”

Sunday stressed that on January 6th, NDIC paid the second liquidation dividend tranche to depositors of Heritage Bank, which was N24.63 billion.

“So, basically, we are still chasing after those who are owing. We are still selling assets to make sure we get more money. But in terms of deposit guarantee, their short sum is the N5 million and the N2 million, while the other parts, we have to depend on the recoveries we are able to make.”

The Chairman of the Committee, Hon. Ahmed Jaha, commended Sunday for the clarification, saying some people thought NDIC covers every deposit.

He said, “You know, some people thought NDIC covers every deposit. They have a limit. In fact, it was recently increased from N500 per depositor to N5 million per depositor. Then, I think, a few weeks or a few months after that, Heritage Bank was down.

“And it may interest members to know that more than 90 per cent of the depositors were paid their insured amount in less than four days. Am I right, Mrs. Emily? Yes. In less than four days, in compliance with IRD standards.

“IRD is an international association of deposit insurance. So, the same thing applies to the issue of liquidation dividends, which we are going to discuss extensively in an executive session.”