By Ewache Ajefu/Editor,Newsdiaryonline.com
The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has commenced on site visits to selected agent banks to assess their level of compliance with processes to ensure prompt payment to depositors of closed deposit money banks (DMBs) and microfinance banks (MFBs).
The exercise, which kicked off last week by Claims Resolution Department (CRD) of the Corporation, is to cover 93 selected branches of the agent banks, which are spread across the country.
According to the Head of Corporate Communications and Public Affairs of the NDIC, Alhaji H.S. Birchi, the 93 agent banks branches had been selected on zonal basis.
He said while 27 branches would be visited in the South West, 24 in North Central and 13 in the South South, the Corporation would visit 15 branches in the South East, 8 in the North East and 6 in the North West zones.
The objectives of the exercise among others are to confirm that payment to depositors is carried out expeditiously and in conformity with the operational guidelines already given to the agent banks by the Corporation.
The Corporation will also assess and ensure that payments of both insured and uninsured deposits remitted to the banks are made to the depositors of the closed banks without let or hindrance, while making sure that the banks properly keep the payment documents forwarded to them by the Corporation such as mandate files, signature cards, Liquidator’s certificates, Deposit Registers, to ensure that payment to the depositors are not impeded by the absence of these records;
The NDIC would also identify and address areas of challenges being faced by the Agent banks that may hinder them from making payment to depositors of the closed banks and further train the desk officers in charge of payment where the need arises.
It would be recalled that the Corporation conducted a similar exercise in 2009, which involved 72 selected agent banks branches in the South West, North Central, North East and North West geo-political zones of the country.
