The Managing Director of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), Mr. Thompson Oludare Sunday, has reaffirmed the agency's commitment to ensuring the banking system in Nigeria remains safe, sound, and resilient. With over three decades of operation, the NDIC has been a critical pillar of Nigeria's financial safety-net architecture. Through its mandate of deposit guarantee, bank supervision, failure resolution, and bank liquidation, the NDIC has worked to maintain confidence in the banking system.
The NDIC's role in maintaining a safe banking system is crucial to the nation's economy, as every thriving business needs a trusted financial system to safeguard its working capital, facilitate payments, and support access to credit for investment and expansion. To strengthen confidence in the banking system, the Corporation enhanced its deposit insurance coverage in 2024, increasing the maximum insured limit to ₦5 million per depositor per Deposit Money Bank (DMB) and Mobile Money Operator (MMO), and ₦2 million per depositor per Microfinance Bank (MFB), Primary Mortgage Bank (PMB), and Payment Service Bank (PSB).
This significant enhancement provides full coverage for over 98 percent of depositors across the insured institutions, protecting households, small businesses, and other vulnerable depositors from the immediate consequences of bank failure. For depositors whose balances exceed the insured limits, the NDIC continues to pay liquidation dividends from recoveries realized through debt recovery and asset disposal. The Corporation's objective is to ensure that no depositor loses confidence in the banking system due to the failure of an insured institution.
The NDIC has also transformed the way depositors are reimbursed, deploying technology, including the Bank Verification Number (BVN), Single Customer View (SCV), and NIBSS infrastructure, to facilitate faster and seamless reimbursement. Today, verified depositors of failed banks receive their insured deposits within days of bank closure. This move has significantly improved the efficiency of the reimbursement process.
The MD reiterated that the NDIC has positioned itself as a Risk Minimizer, identifying vulnerabilities early, strengthening safeguards, and working to prevent institutional problems from escalating into systemic crises. To achieve this, the Corporation has continued to re-set and strengthen its institutional framework in line with global best practices, including the deployment of Risk-Based Supervision (RBS) and an enhanced Differential Premium Assessment System (DPAS).
The NDIC has also encouraged Nigerians to keep their money in licensed and regulated financial institutions, warning against the risks of keeping substantial funds outside the formal banking system or entrusting savings to unlicensed fund managers. The Corporation has noted that the proliferation and collapse of Ponzi schemes have demonstrated the enormous financial and emotional cost of placing hard-earned resources in unregulated schemes.
Finally, the MD encouraged businesses and members of the public to strengthen their financial literacy, embrace digital financial services responsibly, maintain sound financial practices, and engage with relevant regulatory institutions whenever they require guidance. By doing so, Nigerians can build a resilient financial system and make informed decisions about their financial resources.
Key points
- The NDIC has increased deposit insurance coverage to ₦5 million per depositor per DMB and MMO, and ₦2 million per depositor per MFB, PMB, and PSB.
