By GINIKA OKOYE

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) says account names discrepancies in Bank Verification Number (BVN) linked alternate account of some defunct Heritage Bank customers is delaying the payment of their insured deposits.

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

Hassan said the corporation had paid substantial amount to depositors of the defunct bank without BVN account linked issues.

He called on depositors of the bank who were yet to receive their insured deposit credit alert to visit the NDIC’s website and complete their verification forms for their payment.

The managing director said the verification would also include depositors without BVN alternate account.

“We have already commenced the payment of customers since June 6.

“We have paid substantial amount to the customers.

“What we leverage in making the payment is BVN of customers. We trace alternate accounts in other banks and pay them their insured amounts.

“There are some that we have challenges linking up because of some discrepancies between the names and others.

“We are calling on customers that have not received their alerts in their alternate accounts to come forward and complete their verification forms so that we can pay them,” he said.

On payment of depositors with more than five million naira with the bank, Hassan said they would be paid liquidation dividend.

According to him, NDIC have already commenced the process of disposing the physical buildings and also set the process in motion to make sure that we recover the loans and advances that were granted the bank.

“That is what we use in paying those liquidation dividends.

“We are not going to wait until we recover everything, no.

“As we recover, we will also advertise to say that we will pay liquidation dividends so that concerned depositors will be on the lookout for alerts in their accounts,” Hassan said.

NAN reports that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on June 3 revoked the banking licence of Heritage Bank Plc.

CBN said the decision was made due to the bank’s failure to improve its financial performance, posing a threat to financial stability. (NAN)

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