‘N106bn Trapped In Wonder Banks’

A total of N106.94 billion of depositors` funds is currently trapped in the vaults of wonder banks and illegal fund mangers, the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), has disclosed.

The NDIC Managing Director, Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim, made this known at an interactive session with editors in Lagos.

Ibrahim said that an inter-agency committee had established that members of the public had made 560,882 claims against 440 illegal fund managers and wonder banks in the country.

The committee had members drawn from the NDIC, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Securities and Exchange Commission, the EFCC and the Corporate Affairs Commission.

The NDIC chief said that the huge sums, which the depositors no longer had access to, had “implications on the country’s financial stability”.

Ibrahim said that the NDIC would in 2012 explore the possibility of paying the depositors even, if it would do this on a “piecemeal basis”.

Ibrahim said that the corporation would also step up enlightenment programmes aimed at sensitising the public on the dangers of patronising wonder banks and illegal fund managers.

The NDIC chief, however, said that “greed” was a major factor that made people to patronise such illegal outfits, pointing out that some bankers and employees of the regulatory bodies had fallen victims.

Speaking on the 35 banks that were liquidated before 2006, Ibrahim said that the NDIC, as of July, 2011 had paid a total of N6.16 billion to the depositors.

He said that other claimants, represented 37 per cent of the N16.85 billion deposits locked up in the banks.

“Twelve of the banks had declared a final dividend of 100 per cent of total deposits,” he said.