The Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Insurance and Other Financial Institutions, Sen. Rafiu Adebayo, has expressed the committees commitment to accelerate the amendment of the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) Act, 2006.

Alhaji Umaru Ibrahim, NDIC’s Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, said this in a statement signed by the Head, Communication and Public Affairs of the corporation, Mr Mohammed Ibrahim on Thursday in Abuja.
According to Ibrahim, the chairman made the commitment when he led his committee on an oversight visit to the NDIC office in Abuja.

Ibrahim said amendment of the Act would eliminate the gaps that had hindered the full realisation of the public policy objectives of the implementation of the Deposit Insurance System (DIS) in Nigeria.

The managing director updated the Committee on NDIC’s response to the revocation of the licences of 153 Micro-Finance Banks (MFBs) and six Primary Mortgage Banks (PMBs) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

He said the Corporation had already commenced the payment of depositors of 25 MFBs and the deposits verification of 50 others.

The NDIC boss further informed the Committee of the strong resolve and commitment of the Corporation to assist in the investigation and prosecution of all those involved in the collapse of the defunct Skye Bank.

On Savanah Bank, Fortis MFB, Aso Savings and Union Homes, Ibrahim said unless the enabling Act of the Corporation was speedily amended, NDIC was handicapped in acting to end the plight of depositors of the institutions.

The NDIC boss also appealed to the Committee to amend the NDIC Act.
Responding, the Chairman of the Committee commended the Corporation for the excellent quality of its reports on the supervision of banks that had become the benchmark in the industry.

The chairman, however, expressed concerns over the recent policy of the CBN which raised the minimum capital requirements for Microfinance Banks in Nigeria from N20 million to N200 million, N100 million to NI billion, and N2 billion to N5 billion for unit, state, and national MFBs respectively.

Adebayo said the policy would be inimical to the objectives of the financial inclusion strategy.

Adebayo and the NDIC boss both pledged to collaborate to tackle the issues of Block-chain Technology, Financial Inclusion, Cyber Crime, Digital Banking, Consumer Protection and the provision of credits to MSMEs. (NAN)