Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) has invited depositors of all the 34 failed banks prior to the consolidation exercise to file their claims immediately. The Managing Director, Mr. Ganiyu Ogunleye, said that the corporation had declared liquidation dividends to the tune of N10.9 billion.   

     
Ogunleye disclosed this at the handing over of Hallmark Bank-in-Liquidation to Ecobank Plc, which acquired the bank under a purchase and assumption deal in Lagos recently.
He said that out of the declared dividend, the sum of N6.1 billion had been paid to uninsured depositors of 34 out of 36 banks that failed before the banking sector consolidation.

The NDIC boss said that the depositors of 11 out of the 34 banks had received 100 per cent liquidation dividends, indicating full recovery of claims in the affected banks.
"I want to use this opportunity to ask the gentlemen of the press present here to help us tell depositors who have deposits in the failed banks who have not filed their claims for the payment of their insured deposits and liquidation dividends to do so and collect their money.
"We don't want to continue holding on to the money, because the money does not belong to us," he said.
Ogunleye said that with the acquisition of Hallmark, Ecobank had inherited N12 billion private deposit liabilities comprising 121,000 accounts and 62 additional branches.

According to him, with the conclusion of the arrangement between Hallmark and Ecobank, private deposit liabilities of seven failed banks, which had been acquired amounted to N64 billion.
In his speech, the Managing Director of Ecobank Plc, Mr. Offong Amba, said that the acquisition was part of the bank's short-term strategy, adding that the two banks had acquired through the purchase and assumption deals had increased its customer-base and assets tremendously.

He said that with the strategy, the bank was exercising its duties to suffering Nigerians whose funds were trapped in the failed banks and promised to ensure that the customers of the former Hallmark Bank would be handled well.

Mrs. Boma Harrison, a customer of former AllStates Trust Bank, which has also been acquired by Ecobank, said that customers of Allstates Bank expressed initial fears when Ecobank acquired her bank but were eventually relieved when the process went through and they were able to recover their deposits.

She expressed optimism that Ecobank would handle customers of the newly acquired bank like they did to customers of the old All States Trust Bank.