The 2023 Labour Party presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has called for immediate payment of Heritage Bank depositors.
This call is in response to the recent revocation of Heritage Bank’s operating license by the Central Bank of Nigeria.
Obi stressed the significant effects the revocation will have on Heritage Bank’s depositors in a statement released through X on Monday.
Obi urged the Federal Government to ensure the prompt payment of all depositors in full through the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation, citing the difficult economic conditions the nation faces.
“The latest CBN’s revocation order on Heritage Bank’s operating license and subsequent appointment of NDIC as liquidator of its assets though affirmed by the regulators as necessary at this point to enhance financial stability, has a far-reaching impact on the bank’s depositors.
“I will urge the federal government via NDIC to ensure immediate payment of all depositors in Heritage Bank in full to help alleviate the prevailing hardship the people are going through in the country,” he said.
According to Obi, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and individual depositors, who are already facing significant financial difficulties and rely on their savings in the now-liquidated bank for survival.
He warned that any attempt to deny or delay payment to these depositors could worsen their economic woes and lead to a crisis of confidence in the banking system.
“Many individual savers and SMEs are already groaning under severe negative effects of the economy and already living in abject poverty. These depositors depend on the savings they have in the now-liquidated bank to survive.
“Any attempt to deny or delay payment to these depositors would worsen their economic woes and could lead to a crisis of confidence in the banking system.
“Anything short of immediate and full payment can create panic in the banking sector which our already fragile economy cannot afford. On no account should the actions of government through the CBN destabilize the financial system or shake public confidence in the integrity of the system,” he asserted.
Naija News earlier reported that the CBN, through its acting Director of Corporate Communications, Hakama Sidi Ali, issued a statement on Monday, expressing concern about Heritage Bank’s Board and Management’s failure to improve its financial performance, which is seen as a threat to financial stability.
Ali said “Regrettably, the bank has continued to suffer and has no reasonable prospects of recovery, thereby making the revocation of the license the next necessary step.”
As a result, the NDIC announced that Heritage Bank Plc’s liquidation had begun. The NDIC gave everyone the assurance that it would reimburse N5 million in insured deposits to bank customers.
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