NDIC says 467 insured Banks have been liquidated

The Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) says it has  liquidated 467 insured banks since its inception in a bid to stabilize the financial sector.  

The 467 liquidated banks included; 49 Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), 367 Micro Finance Banks (MFBs), and 51 Primary Mortgage Banks (PMBs) as at December 31, 2021.

The Managing Director of NDIC, Mr Bello Hassan, made the disclosure in Abuja on Tuesday at the International Association of Deposit Insurers (IADI) Africa Regional Committee (ARC) workshop.

He noted that the feat would not have been possible without the strong support and collaborative efforts of other financial safety-net players in Nigeria like the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning and others.

Hassan called for a system-wide approach that will involve collaborative efforts of financial safety-net participants and regional deposit insurance systems in managing crises in the insurance sector.

Earlier in her remarks, the Minister of finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Zainab Ahmed, hailed the  CBN and NDIC for keeping Nigeria’s economy resilient despite ferocious local and global headwinds.

She acknowledged that while the Nigerian economy succumbed to global tremors by slipping into recession twice in quick succession, the resilience of the nation’s financial system towed it out of the doldrums swiftly.

She, however, said the fiduciary nature of banking business, coupled with increased social-economic challenges across the globe, had  increased the risk of banks’ failure, with significant implications for depositors’ losses and erosion of public confidence in the banking system. 

In his address at the programme, the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, noted that the COVID-19 pandemic  underscored the need for countries to prepare against financial crisis and ensure that, proactive mechanisms are put in place to deal with crises, even before the underlying risks crystallises. 

“This view, to my mind, remains fundamental to the thinking of regulators and supervisors in the global financial market. 

“The CBN is therefore proud to be associated with this workshop because of our firm belief that, it would provide a platform for brilliant ideas and experience-sharing, especially of the four dimensional shocks that are shaping the current global economies and that of Nigeria with obvious linkages to the safety and soundness of the banking system and role of deposit insurance. It is my belief that, this shared experiences would be of immense benefit to, not only the participating countries here, but the entire global deposit insurance system”, he said.

The Chairman of the Board of the NDIC, Mrs. Ronke Sokefun, in her goodwill message, noted that while the forum provides an opportunity to share views and experiences, such must be maintained to ensure readiness for timely and prompt intervention to engender financial system stability.

The IADI-ARC Chairman, Mr Mohamud Mohamud, urged African countries to be at the fore-front of embracing financial technology. Mohamud re-emphasised that deposit insurance was a key component of ensuring financial system stability. Mr David Walker, the Secretary-General of IADI, called on deposit insurers to focus on emerging risks and make their cooperative window active.