The CBN recently announced the withdrawal of Heritage Bank’s operating licence.
Customers of Heritage Bank and other failed banks can heave a sigh of relief as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has initiated a process to enable them recover their funds following the liquidation of a bank.
Recall the CBN in a statement released by the Acting Director, Corporate Communications, Hakama Sidi Ali announced the withdrawal of Heritage Bank’s operating licence.
According to Sidi Ali, this action was necessary due to the bank’s violation of Section 12 (1) of BOFIA, 2020. The CBN also accused the board and management of the bank of failing to improve the bank's financial performance
How customers will get back their funds
The CBN in order to safeguard depositor funds, appointed the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) as the failed bank’s liquidator.
The NDIC explained that depositors who own "alternate accounts" in the banking industry will be paid an insured amount of ₦5 million per customer.
On the other hand, direct bank customers/depositors of Heritage Bank that have more than ₦5 million in their accounts will receive their funds from dividends (profits) after the bank’s assets and debts have been recovered.
Verification process
For customers that have alternate accounts, the NDIC said their BVN will be used to locate their other accounts.
Customers with no alternate accounts have been advised to visit the nearest branch of the bank with the following items:
- Proof of account ownership,
- Verifiable means of identification such as driver’s licence, permanent voter’s card, National Identity Card,
- An alternate account details for fund transfer
- Bank Verification Number for the verification of their deposits
After the presentation of the above documents, the verification process and payment of insured funds will commence.
The NDIC also advised customers to make use of the online claims process which includes the following procedure:
- Visit the claims page on the NDIC website.
- Download and fill out the claims form
- Upload all the required documents
Speaking further, the NDIC advised that the failed bank’s debtors who were yet to pay off their loans as of when the bank was liquidated should do so by contacting the Asset Management Department (AMD).
