The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) said it had paid N2.024 billion to about 70,424 depositors of closed Microfinance Banks (MFBs) as at August 2011.
This was contained in the report by the Managing Director Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim in the NDIC 2011 Annual Report and Statement of Account released on Wednesday in Abuja.
“Following the revocation of the operating licenses of 103 MFBs in 2010, the NDIC continued to play its role as a deposit issuer.
“In that regard, it had paid an aggregate sum of N2.024 billion to about 70,424 depositors of the closed MBFs as at August 2011.
“This is against the total sum of about N1 billion paid as at December 31 2010.
“The amount paid represented about 41 per cent of total insured amount of about N4.94 billion,’’ he said.
He said that the payment was effected with minimum delay from the date of closure.
Umaru said that the NDIC would continue to pay the remaining depositors through branches of agent banks close to the locations of the closed banks.
He said that the corporation had prosecuted about 55 directors, staff and related parties of 19 closed MFBs who were found to be responsible for the collapse of their banks in 2011.
This, he said, would serve as deterrent to would-be fraudsters in the MFBs.
He said that NDIC, during the year in review, also made payment of insured sums as well as liquidation dividends to uninsured depositors of all the banks in liquidation.
“As at Dec. 31, 2011, the NDIC had paid a total of N6.681 billion to 527,942 insured depositors, while the sum of N73.55 billion had been paid as liquidation dividend to 250,119 depositors,’’ he said.
Umaru said that in the year under review, three additional banks- in-liquidation declared a final dividend of 100 per cent of their total deposits
He listed the banks as Co-operative and Commerce bank, Commercial Trust bank and Ivory Merchant bank.
The chief executive said that 14 out of the 34 liquidated banks, prior to 2006, had declared final dividend of 100 per cent to total deposits.
He said that this indicated that all their depositors would fully recover their deposits trapped in the banks.
Umaru said that the NDIC had also paid N26 million out of N804.35 million to 656 depositors of Fortune bank, while about N1.6 million out of N45.36million had been paid to 35 depositors of Triumph Bank-in- Liquidation.
On debt recovery activities, he said that the cumulative recovery for the banks-in- liquidation since 1994 rose from about N21.756 billion in 2010 to N22.236 billion in 2011.
This represents an increase of about two per cent.
For the closed MFBs, he said that N13.48 million had been recovered as at December 2011, adding that NDIC had offered 13 eligible banks’ assets with book value of N3.85 billion to the AMCON.
This, he said, would help to boost recovery and facilitate payment of liquidation dividends to uninsured depositors and creditors of failed banks. (NAN)