Heritage Bank Customers Face Payment Delays Due to Account Name Issues

Account Name Discrepancies Slow Down Heritage Bank Transactions

Account name discrepancies cause delays in paying insured deposits. NDIC encourages affected depositors to complete verification forms. Liquidation dividends will be paid to depositors with accounts over 5 million naira. CBN revoked Heritage Bank's license due to poor financial performance.

The NDIC has begun liquidating the bank's physical assets and recovering outstanding loans and advances. As recoveries are made, liquidation dividends will be paid to concerned depositors.

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has identified discrepancies in account names associated with Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) as the cause of delays in paying insured deposits to former Heritage Bank customers. NDIC Managing Director, Bello Hassan, disclosed this information on Sunday, June 30, in Abuja.

Hassan revealed that the corporation has already made significant payments to depositors without BVN-linked account issues. He encouraged depositors yet to receive their insured deposit credit alert to visit the NDIC website, complete their verification forms, and facilitate payment. This verification process will also include depositors without BVN-linked alternate accounts, ensuring a smoother payment process.

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

“We have paid a substantial amount to the customers.

“What we leverage in making the payment is the 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.

Depositors with accounts holding over five million naira will receive a share of the bank's liquidation proceeds in the form of dividends, Hassan explained.

The NDIC has begun liquidating the bank's physical assets and has started the process of recovering outstanding loans and advances that were granted by 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.

Read Also: CBN Revokes Heritage Bank's Operating License

In June, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced the revocation of Heritage Bank Plc's banking license. This decision was made due to the bank's failure to address its poor financial performance, which had become a significant risk to the stability of the financial system.

The CBN took this measure to protect the interests of depositors and maintain confidence in the banking industry. Heritage Bank's inability to improve its financial health despite regulatory interventions led to the CBN's decisive action to revoke its license and ensure the stability of the financial sector.