DEPOSITORS of the failed Fortis Micro Finance Bank have so far been paid the sum of N2bn by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation.
The Director, Communication and Publication Affairs, NDIC, Sunday Oluyemi, said this in a statement issued on Wednesday in Abuja.
The Corporation said it was untrue that it was biased in resolving the challenges faced by the failed bank.
The Corporation said as the fortunes of Fortis MFB Plc began to decline due to mismanagement and abysmal corporate governance practices, the CBN, in collaboration with the NDIC, took several actions to address its deteriorated financial condition.
The intervention of regulatory agencies in the resolution of the defunct Fortis MFB, it added, were in two phases.
It said the first phase involved corrective and supervisory measures, which eventually included the sacking of the Executive Management, dissolving the Board of Directors and the appointment of a joint CBN/NDIC Interim Management Committee to temporarily manage the affairs of the MFB.
The statement said the second phase involved the revocation of the operating licence of Fortis MFB by the CBN and its subsequent liquidation by the NDIC.
The Corporation said when all the regulatory/supervisory efforts to turn around the fortunes of Fortis MFB failed to yield the desired results, the CBN was left with no other option than to revoke its operating licence in December, 2018.
It said as soon as Fortis MFB’s operating licence was withdrawn, the NDIC, in line with its mandate, swiftly verified the defunct MFB’s depositors and commenced payment of the insured sums up to the maximum limit.
The NDIC assured the public that it was intensifying efforts to ensure that the residual assets of the Fortis MFB in-liquidation were realised with a view to paying the MFB’s uninsured depositors.
The statement said through its sustained and diligent liquidation activities, the NDIC had realised assets to pay in full, the deposits of the customers of 19 banks previously liquidated.
It added that the depositors of the affected closed banks who filed their claims had been paid all their deposits.
Concerning complaints by a business businesswoman, Mrs Uju Ohanenye, who accused the Corporation of failure to pay the balance of N222.4m out of the fixed deposit of N301 million she lodged with Fortis Microfinance Bank Plc, the NDIC said it had not failed her.
It added, “Under normal circumstances, the Corporation does not join issues with depositors of failed financial institutions in public for obvious reasons.
“But because Mrs Ohanenye has already made the details of her reported petition public, coupled with the fact that the same report is capable of misleading millions of innocent Nigerians particularly on the scope, benefits and limitations of the Deposit Insurance System in Nigeria, the NDIC is constrained to issue this statement.
“Mrs. Ohanenye had contacted the Corporation on several occasions where all the issues involved in the matter were painstakingly explained to her.
“Mrs. Ohanenye approached the Fortis MFB’s IMC and was paid a total of N74,703,867.65 only, in two tranches of N18,000,000:00 and N56,703,867.65 respectively.”
